Each of the 25 triennial Urbana Missions Conferences has been developed around a theme.  My first Urbana? – Urbana ’84: Faithful in Christ Jesus.  I was junior in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois, where the convention at the time was being held.  Thirty Four years later… here I am again!

Scripture has always been a core element of the Urbana experience.  My first Urbana as a brand new IV staff member was all about the book of Jonah – “Should I not be Concerned?”  This time we’re developing the theme Faithful Witness through the book of Revelation.  Not a book you’d immediately turn to for missions themes, Revelation is proving itself rich and relevant.  Jesus is THE FAITHFUL WITNESS followed by all who shrink-not in the face of persecution from a world of broken empires.  Students considering mission today are fueled by the passion of overcomers who give their lives to the full in obedience to the Lamb of God.

Students have studied generous portions of the book of Revelation in their quiet times and small groups.  Platform speakers have drawn out themes of sacrifice, the persecuted church, justice for a world bruised and broken by misguided empires.  The evangelism task force I’ve gotten to be a part of developed a series of proxe station tools for engaging seekers and non-believers using the book of Revelation.  The process is creative and artfully compelling.  If you’re unfamiliar with a proxe station, think visual and conversational engagement between a Christian and a thoughtful seeker.

More to come on this event.  As I’m writing this, we’re heading into the second half of the 4.5 day-long experience.  I’ll get more images and stories out to you between my work-shifts!  My job this time at Urbana is working the InterVarsity booth in the exhibitor’s hall.

The Urbana Missions conference is just around the corner.  I’ll be sending posts from there next week.  Before taking off I wanted to get a few last minute fall highlights out to you.

If you need a link to access my donations page click here.  Many donors like to give in December – this will make it easy to give online and ensure that it lands in my account.  If you desire any last minute communication with me about a donation or need to send a gift through the mail, please just email me!  Thanks!

tim.perry@intervarsity.org

RLT Meetings in Nashville

I got to spend four days with my Regional Leadership Team – the group of Area Directors who are my peers.  Each December we have an extended meeting to pray, plan, to sharpen our leadership and deepen our own working relationships.  South-Central Regional Director Don Paul Gross hosts us in his hometown, Nashville, TN.  These are pics of our strategic planning and training sessions.  One of my former team-mates, Marcia Wang was with us leading us in learning about building more effective multi-ethnic teams.

Nationally we’re in the process of affirming a new vision campaign called The 2030 Calling.  It’s an expansive document calling us to engage in mission on campus at a very sweeping revival-like scale.  Our Regional and National leadership in GFM is helping us take steps toward the 2030 Calling that fit our context.  Its one thing to put a huge vision out there with several strategic initiatives, but how do you actually start building toward it?  That’s where teamwork at the Regional and Area level need to wake up and start cultivating results.

Collaboration with Undergrad InterVarsity

The day after I returned to Omaha from Nashville, I dove in my car to go spend a day with the undergrad side of the ministry in my geography.  The Central Region has an annual staff meeting of all their staff – same four states that I supervise, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas.  There are somewhere around 40 staff in these states.  Here’s a quick run-down of who I met and what I learned (hopefully it’s obvious why I love hanging out with these staff).

• Stacy Rafferty the undergrad AD who lives in my town, gave me a very warm introduction to the entire region.
• I got to follow-up with Will Chu, AD in St. Louis I’ve met before.  He is over much of the state of Missouri and I’m curious about a possible GFM staff in Columbia.
• Will introduces me to Charis Chan – undergrad team leader in Columbia who tells me about a faculty group she has recently affiliated at Mizzou!  I had no idea I have a GFM group in Columbia (but no staff there).
• Touch base with Tim Lin, Area Director Kansas City.  Coming up this spring my GFM staff in Lawrence will be hosting a Veritas Forum event.  Wanted to see if Tim knew about it.
• One of my staff members – George Stulac, GFM Faculty worker in St. Louis also serves the undergrad staff in a Spiritual Director role.  George introduces me to several staff I haven’t had the chance yet to meet.
• Connected with Chad, undergrad staff in Ames.  GFM used to have a staff member at Iowa State – who has recently relocate.  Chad is interested in staff work among faculty.
• I finally get to meet Any Schoepf, Area Director for undergraduate Iowa.  She and I will connect again in Des Moines next spring when I’m through town.  She’s eager to introduce me to faculty at Drake.  I’m excited to introduce one of my friends from Omaha who teaches Marketing and commutes weekly to Des Moines.

Local Faculty

Last pic.  Two of my favorite Omaha faculty members.  Kathy Padilla is a long-time InterVarsity alum and faculty sponsor for our work at Creighton.  Peter Szto is a faculty and director in the Master of Social Work program at University of Nebraska Omaha.  I’ve written about them in previous posts.  It was fun to see them connect at a local InterVarsity holiday party.  It was very exciting to discover that two local undergrad staff are now also graduate students at UNO.  Hmmmm.

Next stop, Urbana 18!  Maybe I’ll see some of you there!

Each year IV staff are among the masses of faith-based not-for-profits wanting to connect with you about financial support.  Thank you so much for being one of those people who stops.  Reads.  Considers your part.  We’re all so grateful for what you do to make a difference in a world full of need.  Whether it’s the university, your Church, your community or the world, you are a critical piece of that engine that empowers good in the name of Jesus all over the globe.  Thank you.  My hope for you is that giving is a joy that leaves you closer to the God who is the giver of all good things.  I also hope you can spend a few minutes with this blog post letting me catch you up with some of my needs.

(Please note below there are a couple of links to use for replying to this post.  Note also that I will be sending the link to this post two times to ensure you get a chance to read it.)

Trajectory.

Ancient greeks used a word for the shape of the path an object travels when thrown.  The curved arc is called a parabola.  Humanity watches parabolas endlessly.  Kids throwing rocks to see whose goes the farthest.  Bored office workers take turns seeing who can hit the trash can from three-point-land with wadded up requisition forms.  A volleyball setter is an inbound/outbound parabolic architect if she’s any good at all.  The greeks also used a derivative of this word to describe the idea of trajectory in storytelling.  A parable is a narrative tossed out to see if a crowd could follow it and maybe catch it’s meaning.

My experience of coming back to InterVarsity is like a parable with an arc.  It’s like I’ve been shot out of a cannon and am floating through the air along a slowly curving path (in front of an audience holding its breath).  Being in the cannon when it went off wasn’t nearly as fun as the circus makes it seem.  But when you stand back a bit you can see what’s happening.

The info graph below is an attempt to capture where I’ve come from.  And where I’m hopefully headed.  Looking back on the first few months I was amazed at how quickly the resources came in to get me started.  It was such an affirmation for people give so readily and generously.  “If this is where I’m at a split second after the powder ignites, I think I’ll make it.”  Thanks so much to all who gave during that first year.  If you only knew the sense of gravity your partnership overcame!  I’d been attending InterVarsity GFM staff meetings for month upon month.  It felt so good to lead my team in a retreat back in May.  In July I reached full-time hours/pay and was officially handed the team.

That was then, this is now.

As I’m midway into my second fiscal year, I’m seeing a definite need for more work on my funding.  After months of not thinking much about the dollars, I just completed a quick projection to see what will be needed between now and next June 30th.  My second year’s budget is right at $101 K.  The biggest concern I have is the significant amount of jump-start funding people gave me during my first year that won’t repeat this year.  Check out the bottom half of the piktochart.

The people currently giving annual and monthly donations make up a pretty strong core of support I can count on.  The challenge is replacing about $25 K that many of my early donors gave to get me started.  That was terrific when it was donated.  Over time though it needs to get replaced with annual and monthly giving.  Currently I have roughly equal numbers of annual donors and monthly donors (on the left at the bottom).  Replacing last year’s one-time donations and adding enough to reach a slightly bigger budget means I’m looking for more donors and more sustaining dollars.  I’d like to find about 10 annual donors who could make up the jump-start dollars.  I’d also like to keep finding more $100 per month donors.

Helping Tim stay on his path:

When I started this back in 2017 I told myself, “I just don’t want to constantly bury people in paper mail.  The printing, folding, stamping and dangerous paper-cuts.”  I found a way to keep my news as paperless as possible.  But I am searching for a good tool for donors to reach out to me with their questions and plans.  At some point I’m going to have to use paper in order to get to every last type of donor on my team.  But for the sake of you reading this, here’s what I’m asking:

1- If you’d like to make a one-time year-end donation to help me reach my budget that would be greatly appreciated.  Just hit on the link immediately below.  If you would like to begin monthly donations or change the amount you give online, you can use that same donations web-page.  You’ll know you’re on the right page when you see my picture.

2- Feel free to let me know what your support plan for the coming calendar year is.  Just drop me a quick email.  You can use the second link below or email me at tim.perry@intervarsity.org

3- If you’ve been receiving updates automatically but would like that to stop, either text me at (402) 709-7911 or email me below.

Click here to be taken to my donations page at InterVarsity

Click here to email Tim with any update you’d like him to have about your support.

Last thing here, I promise.  If you would rather receive updates via links sent to your e-mail (instead of text notifications) email me at the above link/address.  I can change you over to email (sometimes much easier to read on the device you get your mail through versus the cell phone).

Thank you so much for partnering with me!

University of Iowa was on my supervisory itinerary back in September.  I had actually never set foot on the campus.  I landed on a sunny Wednesday morning at  The Encounter Cafe (a very nice place, Kevin).  Kevin Kummer is our GFM Staff Member at Iowa.  He and his wife Maria are veteran staff – not only with InterVarsity but also the IFES  (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) for a combined 39 years of ministry now with students and faculty!

The guy on the left is Dr. Cary Covington – political science professor at Iowa.  I sat down that morning to one of the most interesting conversations about faith and politics.  People with Cary’s level of education are themselves an education to be around.  I was not only given a front row seat to Kevin’s friendship with Dr. Covington, we also talked at length about current events.  “So, from your perspective as a political scientist and a devoted christian, what do you think explains Trump’s impact not only on the republican party but also on the Church?”  Yes.  We talked about that!  Dr. Covington’s thoughts were deep, historically rooted, incredibly intelligent and earnest.  “I’m just not used to having someone like that to talk to,” I remember saying to Kevin.  “Cary usually doesn’t have that much time to talk – I was surprised he hung out with us that long,” Kevin mentioned to me afterward.

One of the best things about working with GFM is that there are absolutely no boring people.  You just have to ask the right questions (off the record, of course).  Later that day Kevin gave me a walking tour of the campus.  “There’s the building where the Iowa Writer’s Workshop is located.  Pulitzer Prize novelist and christian Marilynne Robinson teaches here at University of Iowa, did you know that?”

Kevin had the best stuff lined up for me to experience while I was in town.  We got to spend about 45 minutes with Brandon, a new grad student in theatre.  We met with Yooneui, Katrina and Shu – Kevin’s leadership team.

You can check out Graduate Christian Fellowship at Iowa on FB at this link.

I spent the evening in the Kummer’s home learning more about their extended family and history with InterVarsity over a delicious dinner.  This is the kind of time with staff that helps me serve them better.  Experiencing their ministry context, being more up-close to their work, and getting in touch with their families.

My Fall 2018 line up!

• Aug 15, Lawrence, campus visit to KU with Jake Evans
• Sept 18-19, St. Louis, Wash-U, time with George Stulac on campus, dinner with George and Barbara, meet up with St. Louis Comm College faculty, breakfast with Ryan Weed.
• Sept 26-27, Iowa City with Kevin on campus, stops in Ames and Pella on way back home to meet faculty and undergrad Regional Director Kathy Haug
• Oct 9, Ministry Partnership meeting with potential donor in Overland Park, coaching with Jake, meet Christina and the Evan’s kids.
• Oct 10-11, Campus visit with Mark Hansard to Emporia State, dinner with his wife Leanne, campus day with George Gardner at K-State in Manhattan
• Nov 7,  Ministry Partnership conversation in Topeka – resources and networking for GFM Kansas.

I’m so grateful for Kevin and his work.  Let’s see… we got George a smoker after his 20th year with IV.  I’d better be thinking about what InterVarsity should do for a staff member who has given 40 years!  Thank you, Kevin!  Thank you, Maria!  You two are a treasure to this ministry as well as hundreds (if not thousands) of students and faculty all over the world.  Our team is so blessed to have you!

I first met my other George at Bear Trap Ranch (Colorado Rockies) in 1999.  At the time BTR was one of InterVarsity’s regional student training camps.  I was on a study sabbatical during my first 19 year stint with InterVarsity, enjoying a family vacation (in fact, before the days of Silas Perry).  Our downstate Illinois friends Jeff and Sandy Yockey were running Bear Trap.  George Gardner was the facilities guy and his wife Sharon was the cook.  Oh, this George isn’t the same as the George from a couple of posts ago.

Eighteen years later…my ministry timeline brought me back to InterVarsity and onto the same staff team with George.  This time in Graduate Faculty Ministries.  George and his family moved on from Bear Trap Ranch and eventually settled in Manhattan, Kansas at K-State.   Time flies.  Both George and I have had our odometers flip more than once since first meeting in the previous millennium!

One of my delights in supervision is to affirm staff for their years of service.  While George has been in ministry longer than 20 years, I get to make sure InterVarsity finds a creative way to celebrate his time on staff.  Director’s are given a budget to spend on staff anniversaries but not told exactly what to do with it.  My team might regret that at some point.  But after recruiting George himself to come up with a fitting recognition, he decided a smoker would be a very practical gift.  Yes, George is a smoker!  A meat smoker!

When I was with him back in October, he mentioned having already used it to host an international student gathering.  My guess is that smoker is going to get a great deal of use – for the Gardner family but also for future generations of K-State international students.  George has recently been reporting to the team about dozens and dozens of Paraguayans he’s been connecting with.  The day I was with him at K-State we met up with an enthusiastic Paraguayan named Gimena, getting her degree in entrepreneurship.  She comes from a family of business owners.  Gimena told me about her hopes for completing a master’s degree and returning to her home country.  She was also very excited about recently being a part of one of her fellow Paraguayans coming to faith in Christ.

George, you’re doing a fantastic job!  You connect with so many students through hospitality and service.  You fix bikes for internationals.  You and Sharon fix countless meals for students.  A smoker is a small way to say thank you for your faithful witness to the university and the world.  We’ll take another 20 if you guys have it in you!

Are you a “New Thing” kind of person?  Not everyone is.  And that’s OK.  Recently InterVarsity rolled out it’s new logo, part of a larger branding campaign.  “Our current visual identity is nearly 20 years old, not functioning well in today’s media landscape.”  That sounds horrific.  I’m glad we did something about it.  But to be honest, I’m happy being part of an organization nearly 80 years old, yet alive and well in the landscape of North American universities and colleges.  Every year some groups close down entirely.  Every year new groups are planted.  What keeps a movement alive and growing? New branding won’t keep InterVarsity from passing into irrelevance.   What enables one student generation on a campus to give rise to the next?  When a student generation is at best 8 semesters you’re constantly nagged by the threat of extinction.

Maybe something new is happening at UNO

Long before I had a clue I’d be leaving Christ Community Church, I met a social work professor one of my young professionals at CCC kept talking about.  We were getting the church ready for a social justice campaign in our community and looking for teaching resources.  Carmen got me in touch with Dr. Peter Szto, a professor in UNO’s school of Social Work.  “He’s done research in the area of human trafficking – you might find his work helpful to understanding the issues.”  Peter taught at one of our training workshops.  I remember thinking this is such a cool thing that a Christian professor at a secular university could actually help connect the campus and the church with needs in our community.

I was delighted to find out that Dr. Szto is an alumnus of InterVarsity GFM at the University of Pennsylvania where he completed his PhD.  Shortly after accepting my current position, I reconnected with Peter.  When I told him what I’d be up to with IV, he was very supportive mentioning that in his department he knew of many Christian graduate students.  “I could help you connect with a few if you’re interested.”

Dr. Szto.  Shelby.  Liz.

This is how new things start.  People talk.  People get connected.  Groups get started – maybe.  This August, Peter introduced me to Shelby, a student in the Masters of Social Work program.  Peter, Shelby and I met.  We had a nice chat getting to know each other and learning more about the vision and values of InterVarsity GFM.  We signed off with a brief time in prayer and agreed to meet a month later.

Next time we met, I brought bagels and cream cheese.  Shelby brought Liz, a student in her first year of the program.  This time we looked at a list of ideas for planting a new GFM group.  13 Steps to Starting a Fellowship We prayed together again.  Agreed to meet next month – the date actually falls on Shelby’s birthday.  I told her I’d bring her a birthday cake (if she’d keep bringing more students to the group).  Wait, did I say group?

There you have it.  Maybe we’ll be celebrating two birthdays!  Hopefully more in future posts as things develop!  Please be praying for God to show us more corners on more campuses in the days ahead!

BTW… branding is serious business!  We were given an entire one-pager on the new logo.  My favorite paragraph about the new IV logo:

“What does it mean? This visual concept effectively expresses our collegiate context, as well as our need for the Scriptures, with a stylized book. It has a warm, inviting energy. A dawn arises from this, bringing light into the world. The asymmetry in shape and color convey movement. The slab font (Gaspo) draws on our collegiate roots with a lightness suited for campus today. We have elected to communicate these elements softly, to allow the logo to be filled up with the positive associations of interactions with InterVarsity people, events, books, memories, and stories.”

If you could just read this in the new font… you’ll gaspo with wonderment!  Be blessed.  Be well.  Thanks for reading!

Click here to be taken to Tim Perry’s funding page. 

 

 

 

I am coming to you from the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.  At the moment I’m enjoying some Kaldi’s at Kayak Coffee on the corner of Skinker and Forest Park.  I’m on a two day visit to my GFM staff here in St. Louis.  I just spent a full day with George Stulac yesterday.  Here was the line-up:

11:00 Coffee with Abram Van Engen – Assoc Professor of English.  We talked about Abram’s work with the Carver Project and ways InterVarsity GFM can collaborate effectively with it.  George has been very instrumental in building a network of Christian faculty members at Wash-U.

12:00 Lunch with Taylor Cyr, a new instructor in the philosophy department (on the right in the pic above).   Taylor and his family are new to Wash-U and the St. Louis area.  He’s also a fairly new PhD teaching and researching in a non-tenure track program.  George met Taylor at a lecture on campus, found out he is a Christian and struck up a friendship with him.  It’s so fun to see George in action with his relational and pastoral gifts.

1:30 Back to George’s place for a conversation with Will Chu – Area Director for the undergraduate IVCF work in Missouri.  Conversation was about collaboration between undergrad and graduate/faculty work.  I’ll have to write more on this later, but a huge are of concern for my role is keeping our two broad ministry divisions in effective partnership on campuses we share.

3:00 Over to Forest Park Community College for a gathering with faculty for bible study and prayer.  Two professors in IT/Cyber Security met with George, caught up and spent time praying about some looming challenges in their departments.

6:00 Dinner with George and his wife Barbara.  Catching up with how the Stulac family is doing, care for aging parents, kids, grand-kids.

Around the edges

Every time I travel, I’m asking the question, how can I “enjoy the ride?”  Things that make travel more enjoyable are things like:

• good coffee
• time with friends and family in the area (Thanks Joel and Katrina, Steve and Lisa for good rest and time catching up with you).
• making the most of being out of town:  I’ll be traveling through Columbia on my way back to Omaha tomorrow.  Hoping to stop in and say hello to one of the local undergrad IV staff members at Mizzou.  We have no GFM work at Mizzou
• more good coffee
• a rental car that doesn’t leave me smelling like an ash-tray.  This time I got a KIA Soul.  The best KIA – it’s a small car that actually feels comfortable to sit in!  Thanks Enterprise.
• fun texts from my family and Poppy pics and videos!
• A chance to catch a few interesting photographs – gonna go on a prayer walk with George later this afternoon.  Have to see if something catches my eye.  Wash-U is a beautiful campus!

The rest of my day…

Lunch with a Wash-U graduate interested in a year of volunteer staff on his way to grad school.  Another conversation with George talking about his Annual Ministry Plan for 2018/19.  Dinner with a bunch of Wash-U graduate students over at Ryan and Keli Weed (two other GFM staff here in St. Louis).  I’ll crash tonight with my family here in St. Louis and head back to Omaha tomorrow morning.

Off to Iowa next week!

 

 

What? They want me to be the speaker-guy at Family Camp? In my former days with InterVarsity it was a very big deal to be invited to be the expositor for a week of camps at Cedar Campus. For a couple of years before I left IV staff in 06 I got to be on the teaching team for Chapter Focus Week. A group of staff would meet and prepare the same expository series happening at multiple sites, multiple weeks throughout the summer.

My assignment this summer was expositor for Family Camp – Week 4. We jumped on the opportunity as a family to go. I jumped on the opportunity to do a Jesus series and continue developing Bad Company. Check out the previous post if you’re wondering why I’m so excited about the theme of Jesus and Rejection. Here’s a quick snapshot of where the series went:

1. Sunday: Homeboy Rejected – Jesus nearly stoned at Nazareth, Luke 4
2. Monday: Un-follow Me? -Many of Jesus’ disciples opt out after tough message, John 6
3. Tuesday: Power Clash – Jesus rejected by religious power systems, Mark 12
4. Wednesday: Jesus Saves…Not! – Jesus turns away a prime candidate, Mark 10
5. Thursday: Rejected Victor – Jesus the Suffering Servant, Isaiah 53

This is a very deep, untapped source of Jesus story-telling. I selected these five rejection narratives as an onramp to an audience of people very familiar with Jesus stories. We know many of these stories well.  But they aren’t the ones we usually use in telling the Gospel. I think that’s a huge problem. And I think we can change that. People struggling with belief in Jesus are longing to hear something other than felt need as the rationale. I’m afraid consumerism is about to burn itself out as a vehicle for the Gospel.

Where is Bad Company headed?

Look for Bad Company articles to float through the blog now and then. I’ll be eventually off-loading Bad Company to its own tab on this site. There are so many rejection stories to explore – each one packed with new challenges for Christians on mission in an intensely consumerist context. I keep telling friends I’d like to develop Bad Company into a book! But meanwhile, jump in with your thoughts about Jesus and Rejection. Am I really onto something legit?

“Jesus is that huge kid at the other end of your teeter-totter. What are you going to do when your will to follow is out of scale with Jesus’ identity claims?” A diagram here and a few application questions in light of Jesus’ own followers opting out (John 6). Becoming a disciple integrates belief and the will to follow. When disciples couldn’t grasp the implications of Jesus’ identity claims, their will to follow flagged. Today many have the opposite problem. They’ll just fake the beliefs and do what it looks like Christians have to do to fit in.

Following Bad Company Jesus is soooo much harder. And so much more rewarding. I dare you to try it yourself. More to come.

Ever had one of those moments when your brain latches onto a new idea? Or a new course of action? Something new just grabs your attention and won’t let go. When I was a kid and first discovered windmills, I was obsessed. I wanted so badly to build my own small scale windmill to match the one on my grandparents’ farm. What would it take to actually make one? Where could I get some sheet metal? How could I cut it out, put it together and make it work?

Little by little, I stopped thinking about windmills. I stopped noticing them everywhere. Stopped scheming about building one of my very own. I moved on to airplanes. I never looked back.

Highly addicting dictionary for word-nerds like me.

Sometimes however, that idea or plan just won’t leave you alone no matter how much you ignore it. Let me introduce you to Ecaballium Elaterium. Otherwise known as The Squirting Cucumber! Ever seen one? Far from dying on the vine, this weird plant has seed-pods that actually explode when they get bumped, pinched, plucked or chewed by an unsuspecting herbivore.

The seeds erupt from their pod at speeds up to 60 miles per hour! Each pod spits out 20-40 seeds like a vegetarian machine-gun! Here’s the most fun, least worthy-of-your-time video you’ll encounter online. The squirting cucumber video – from Earth Unplugged. Before I completely lose my reader, why in the world am I talking about exploding cucumber seed pods? Here’s the back story…

Unconvinced

Two and a half years ago I was teaching a class while on staff at Christ Community Church. It was for seekers, skeptics and the unconvinced. The pilot for my idea was a series I designed for my crowd that paralleled a church-wide adventure in the book of Exodus. Our lead pastor was teaching through Exodus in the weekend messages. I was taking my tribe through what I called Exodus for the Unconvinced. Each week we presumed unbelief and explored all the critical problems we could find. This is about when the squirting cucumbers started sprouting in my garden!

After Exodus for the Unconvinced, I started writing material for a new study in the Gospels. What would happen if I took the same approach from Exodus and applied it to the book of Mark or John? What would a skeptic see looking at the public ministry and teaching of Jesus – if viewing the NT documents strictly on their narrative merit? I was surprised what people actually noticed. It was different than what the eyes of the already convinced typically see. Different. And better – for skeptics!

I had always felt the pressure to make sure people see the incredible healing miracles of Jesus. Skeptics need to get it – how someone claiming to wield that kind of power always used it in such selfless ways. People with great power today are far from selfless in its use. I was equally adamant that unconvinced seekers really need to hear what Jesus taught – the brilliance and uniqueness of his message.

Jesus got rejected… a lot!

People started noticing Jesus’ actual lack of popularity. He absolutely refuses to be slick – to the point of repeated rejection from audience after audience. I’d want people to notice how he chose to heal a man’s hand in the synagogue. Skeptics weren’t that impressed with the display of compassion. They were struck by Pharisees who were plotting Jesus’ death! And why would Jesus’ own hometown want to lynch him on his first day of public ministry among them? Why the intense rejection? If Jesus were sooooo powerful, why didn’t he use his power in ways that would guarantee belief? If the Gospels were mere legend, why put the hero at the mercy of people who didn’t care about miracles even when they witnessed them?

The idea that just won’t die is this: The believability of Jesus’ identity claims rests more on his suffering and rejection than on his crowd-making miracles and compassion. The miracles don’t need to be taken out of the story – they just don’t carry the whole weight of what Jesus was attempting to do. Taking the unconvinced by the hand and showing them the theme of Jesus’ rejection is actually more attractive than constantly showing them how Jesus met felt needs. Everything else in a consumer culture is trying to prove it can meet a felt need. Jesus has to be doing something more consequential than that in order to keep getting rejected like he does.

Commercial Church Jesus

The impression most get from commercial church today is that Jesus is the thing you need for what is hurting you most about life. Most “industry best-practice” evangelistic communication skilfully stages Jesus between a seeker and his or her felt needs. Felt-need consumerism. It works. All you have to do is throw in the right coercive emotional word-picture and people will respond right on cue!

The Jesus of the New Testament is larger and different than the specially formulated one branded for the unconvinced. There’s something freeing about helping seekers unhook from commercial Christianity and connect more directly with Jesus through simple bible reading. Jesus for the Unconvinced became a new channel to explore an unfiltered Jesus. Each week my hunch got stronger. “Stop pitching the therapeutic Jesus. Seekers need to see the Suffering Servant. Stop hiding the disconnect between the power of Jesus and the suffering of Jesus.” It wouldn’t leave me alone. Solving that disconnect with the help of my unconvinced friends was a challenge that wasn’t dying on the vine over time. It was exploding on the vine. Like a comical squirting cucumber! The rejection of Jesus is more compelling than what we would call a successful public ministry. A crucified Messiah has to be taught somehow without poisoning the well with consumerism.

Yes they do.  Just not as much as undergrads.

NSO.  New Student Outreach.  That’s what we used to call it in my former IVCF career. My glory days wear me out to recall. Staff teams would get our student-leaders to return a few days before classes. We’d cover every bulletin board with publicity. We’d pack all-campus events and niche events into the first week.  “Move over credit card venders!”  “Excuse me, that’s our table, Mr. ISP-Modem-Man.”

Visibility. Connections. Meeting people. Getting people to sign information cards.  Follow-up.  The world of grad students I now serve isn’t completely different. The first month of the semester is still the least impossible one for getting people to show up at a gathering. Food still seems to make it happen. I’m convinced even busy grad students like making new connections before the semester bites down hard!

Emily (student leader) and Kathy (faculty member) were a blast to be with on Creighton’s campus. We met dozens and dozens of students filing past the information tables. About 20 stopped to engage us and find out more about GFM at Creighton. A possible change this year will be moving to weekly gatherings. Every other week, Kathy will host a meal in her home. On the off-weeks Emily will lead a bible study on campus. It’s an ambitious  time commitment.  We’ll see how the group sustains throughout the semester.

When I worked with undergrads, it was a given that a student would show interest in a small group, would come to a weekly gathering for teaching and worship, and volunteer somewhere in the group. That’s just not reality for grad students. The biggest difference is selectivity.  Grad students are much more selective.  Much less included to sign up for everything and sort it out later. It’s a very big deal to have 35 grad students at your kick off barbecue (Wash-U this past week).  I was surprised to learn that at the involvement fair at Creighton two weeks ago, all 300+ new students in Pharmacy and Health care were required to attend the orientation!  Required to walk through the entire room full of displays!

Faculty Groups starting back up this fall.

Mark Hansard works with faculty members at K-State. He tells me there are two faculty groups meeting regularly. One is a book group this fall reading and discussing Augustine of Hippo, a biography by Peter Brown.  Mark writes for The Compass – the blog for ESN, Emerging Scholars Network.  Check out one of his posts at this link.

The other group is a bible study working through Colossians. Faculty groups are amazing to me because these are perhaps the busiest of busy people on campus, yet they carve out time to be together. Sometimes it takes me weeks to just get an appointment with a faculty member. When they decide to spend time in a study group, book group or a missional prayer gathering, they’re not looking for a way to burn free time. They’re intentional. Pray for Christian faculty members at my school. Ask God to keep them focused, refreshed and engaged in the kingdom of God right in the midst of their departments.

Recent and Upcoming…

• Connecting with Dr. Peter Szto at UNO this fall and Shelby – one of his new MSW students.  Thinking and praying about a possible group among other MSW students.
• Campus visit to St. Louis coming up Sept 18-20.  Three campuses.  Three staff.  I’ll also connect with two staff potential folk.
• Planning a trip through Iowa Sept 25-28 – University of Iowa, possibly meeting some Drake faculty in Des Moines a friend of mine is colleagues with, and a visit with the undergrad ministry Central Regional Director.
• My link to the 2030 Calling now plays the video.  Click here to watch if you didn’t catch it from my previous post.
• Wait.  I almost forgot! My daughter Phoebe’s wedding!  Yikes that one is sneaking up on us.  September 9th.