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Evangelistic
Blue Mondays- Part One
By Steve Stuckey
[This post is part of a series called Rooted. Find the other posts here]
What a Weekend
“Wow! What a weekend,” Bill said. “I was up till 2:00am on Thursday night arranging rides for the conference. I woke early Friday morning with a call that one of our seminar leaders was sick and would not be able to make it. Between trying to find a replacement, complete my own seminar, and pack my car with musical equipment, I was tired before I ever reached the dock for our 5:00pm departure to Campus by the Sea. But once on the boat with all the students, the adrenaline kicked in and I was fine. I had a great conversation with a new student on the ride over. My Friday night presentation went well. Students told me how much they appreciated what I had to say and that encouraged me. The next two days were filled with transforming conversations over meals, great worship times, basketball with fellow staff in the afternoon, and a prayer session lasting late into the night. Though I got only five or six hours of sleep each night, I didn’t feel all that tired. The energy of the group and a lot of strong coffee carried me along. So much kingdom work was getting done in such a short time. But then on the boat ride home Sunday afternoon, I noticed that my head hurt and I was starting to feel a little sad. I had worked on the conference for four weeks. It was a fantastic success with numerous students deciding to follow Jesus. But it was coming to an end.”
The Roller Coaster of Planting
By Beau Crosetto
Staring new things for God is such a roller coaster of emotion!
I really hate it some days and love it others. But if we are going to be effective at starting new things for God then we have to be faithful people. We cannot let emotions dictate how we will act. We cannot let how we feel determine if we will go forward and stick it out.
There will be high highs, and low lows in planting.
There will be days you feel super lame, get stood up, and wonder why you are even doing this. There will be days when you have the best conversations and witness the most life-changing encounter and wonder how you could ever do anything else.
But the key in it all is being faithful and showing up no matter what.
The Power of Stories
By James Choung
I just came back from Q Los Angeles, and my brain is full of ideas and thoughts and dreams — it’ll take a month to unpack it all. But I know already what I want to do first.
I want to learn how to tell a better story.
I know the idea of stories has been around the block a few times, even in evangelical neighborhoods. But still, stories have tremendous power. The best stories tell us what the world is like, and point to how the world could be. At Q, Bobette Buster, a creative consultant to some of the biggest names in Hollywood, said that if you tell your story, then it can lead to courage and healing. But if you bottle it up, then they’re liking ticking time bombs, ready to explode in destructive ways in the world around us. We need stories to make sense of our world, and to help us picture a better one. No wonder storytelling, especially in movies, is a multi-billion dollar industry.
The Unscripted & Surprising Talk
By Luke Cawley
After several hours of careful preparation, I had my talk down to perfection.
I was ready to share with a room full of parents how following Jesus affects my parenting.
Almost none of the parents were Christians and I was keen to communicate that though I struggle with all the same aspects of parents as they do, taking Jesus seriously has at least pointed me in a more helpful direction with some of these struggles.
I printed off the talk and put it in my bag.
The person organizing the event, which was a children’s Easter party, picked me up in her car and as I put on my seatbelt I thought I heard her say that I was not addressing the parents.
I was to speak with nine and ten year-olds.
Panic hit, as I haven’t done any kids’ work for over a decade.
Anxious Toil
It is with great excitement and pleasure that I introduce to you Steve Stuckey. Steve is my spiritual director and many others as well. In a nut shell, he keeps me focussed on Jesus and paying attention to His voice. I would say he is a master at helping to shape the APE type leader and keep them walking with Jesus in healthy and whole ways. I have asked Steve to write a monthly post with us to help us think about the spiritual formation side our lives. He is going to do a year long series called “Rooted” for us! We only need to turn so far to see how many leaders like us have crashed and burned…not because they weren’t well trained, or prepared, but because they lost their inner compass that pointed them to Jesus. I hope these posts from Steve are a monthly online opportunity to stop and reflect as catalytic leaders. He is passionate about helping APE’s get shaped, just in a different way than we normally read about here!
[This post is part of a series called Rooted. Find the other posts here]
Anxious Toil
“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for God gives to his beloved, even while they sleep.” Psalm 127:2
A recent conversation with a fellow InterVarsity staff member began this way. “I feel anxious,” he said. “I have too much to do with the InterVarsity group on campus. My wife is upset that I am out so many evenings. My donors are feeling the economic crunch and donations are down. God seems distant and I have a hard time sitting still long enough to pray.”
I have noticed that 8 out of 10 people that I meet with mentioned feeling anxious. Maybe it is a disease of our American culture which tends to be narcissistic, goal oriented, and constantly restless. It is certainly a dis-ease of the soul that disturbs our peace, undermines our confidence in God, and focuses our minds upon things temporal and often irrelevant. Leaders who are inclined to be highly responsible and future focused seem to be especially prone to the condition. Some even wear their anxiety as a badge of honor to demonstrate how hard they are working.
We Are Looking For College Student Writers!
I want some college students to start writing on our team! Could it be you?
I work with College students and so do many of our writers, so obviously I am passionate about raising them up and seeing them lead in dynamic and world changing ways. A huge reason I started this blog was to empower college students.
I thought to myself, “What kind of online space would I have loved in college as a young apostolic evangelist?”
The answer was a daily post and community of inspiring leaders that were writing to fire me up. People that were living into the APE calling and understood there was something stirring deep inside to catalyze movements and ministry beyond the current context and for sure beyond the walls of the church.
I would have absolutely loved reading these posts in college and would have loved the opportunity to interact with the different writers here as well.
Show & Tell
By Beau Crosetto
It is alarming to me how much leaders do not model for the people below them. I see it especially apparent the higher I look up the leadership ladder. It seems that the more and more someone gets removed from the ground level, less and less modeling takes place. It is bothering me. These are the most skilled and advanced leaders. They/we need to be showing people what to do, not just telling them!
It’s time to get back into the pond and show people how to swim instead of shouting from the shore.
The other day I was having a conversation with a person I really look up to as a leader. They asked me about how I was modeling for the guy I am raising up and I realized I wasn’t doing a very good job in one area specifically. Sorry Nick 🙂
I had fallen into the trap that most leaders fall into:
Who Do You Think You Are?
This is a guest post by Laura Hairston. Laura is a wife, mom & practitioner. She serves on the National Leadership team for Forge America Mission Training Network and is co-founder of Waken Ministries, both organizations helping with missionary formation & discipleship. She lives in the North Dallas suburbs where she mentors teenage girls in her home as well as longs to see her neighborhood look more like the kingdom of God each day. Her heartbeat is for every follower of Jesus to see themselves as missionaries in their every day lives. Twitter | Facebook
“Who do you think you are?” is what I’d really like to say to those “Christians”—yes, those are air quotes—who think they are better than everyone else. Just because we know Jesus and have decided to follow him doesn’t mean we turn inward and raise ourselves in status. On the contrary, we should be turning outward and becoming more gracious and humble.
I’ll preface the rest of this by saying I used to be one of those “Christians.” I only spent time with the people I worked around and attended church with, and most of them were all the same since I worked in a church. I never had time for my neighbors or really anyone else for that matter. I was constantly surrounded by people who believed and valued the same things I did.
He is Here! (Two Great Videos)
I want to share with you two great videos that help us celebrate the resurrection on this awesome Easter day.
This video is a spoken word that my wife Kristina shared today as she preached at our church, The Vineyard Underground
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This next video is Kristina sharing a story of disappointment and then breakthrough in healing a few years back. Really powerful and a total witness to the power of the resurrection.
I hope you enjoy these and have a great day remembering and welcoming the resurrection into your life more fully!