Advent Reflection

After the typhoon last month, I found it especially difficult to pray. As I was talking to my wife Jennie about it, she shared an analogy:  “When you button a shirt and start in the middle, it’s easy to get off track.  You have to start at the top in order for everything to line up. And the top button amidst all the unknown is that God is always good.”

God is good. Yet life seems so tragic. I wish God stopped tragedy. Why doesn’t he steer hurricanes away from inhabited Islands? Why does he let cancer and sickness suddenly steal a life?  If it has to, why can’t it just take the sex-trafficker and leave the loving husband’s alone?  Is he really good?

It’s Advent, and the church waits on Christ.  We wait for the king to reclaim our homeland.  We wait for death to surrender its stronghold; for the dragon to be dispensed.

Let our collective and individual sorrows, immense and terrible as they are, remind us that we are on a mission, and are in desperate need of help.  We are homeless — for a time — caught out in the cold.  But, Christ! He has returned to lead his people into a sorrow-less future.  The advent of our Savior is the hope of the world.

Ours is not a fools hope — the grasping after a ghost — but the flesh and blood of incarnate God plunged into our disease, the cross a syringe, his blood our antidote.  In the words of Peter Kreeft,

Christ doesn’t give us this bloody road without first having travelled it himself… God’s answer to our pain was not a philosophy, but a person. Instead of telling us why not to weep, he wept, and transformed human tears into divine tears… He suffered for us not to make our sufferings go away, but to make them enter him – to make them his own. (Kreeft, Making Sense Out of Suffering)

It may seem a despondent topic for Advent reflection, but realize trifling afflictions require trifling remedies.  Our affliction is anything but trifling, it it truly and totally tremendous.  It is tyrannical.  It is unrelenting.  But, Christ!  Our tremendous suffering requires a tremendous Savior.  He is more unrelenting, and tyranny will bow to his word.

Hope in Christ. We are homeless for a time, and death may for a day.  But, Christ! He has come.  He will come again.  He will wipe every tear from our eyes. He will put death in his grave.  He is the one about whom the prophets spoke.  He is love.  He is joy. He is peace. He is purity. He is the complete, trustworthy, definitive revelation of the holy goodness of our God.  He is the King.

Merry Christmas!

Seminary

(This can be found in its original format at my Gordon-Conwell Partnership Program page. Click here.)

Partners in Christian crime,

Seminary is so fun it should be outlawed. I got my first textbooks this week, and — as I noted on Facebook — I took it as a good sign that opening the amazon box they came in felt like unwrapping presents on Christmas morning. 

The Masters of Divinity program is a 90 credit-hour degree, and it starts with the survey courses. These are broad overviews of the core disciplines. New testament, old testament, theology, and church history. I am starting in January with New Testament survey. My first assignment is to read the New Testament in a translation I’ve not read it in before. 

Jennie and I will head up to St. Louis for Christmas next week. Her family is coming down to help us pack up and haul our things up there. From there, we will move to Charlotte after New Years. We are renting a UHaul trailer and praying our Subaru can do the job. 

Please be praying for Jennie to find a good job putting to use her recently completed Masters of Christian Counseling. She is officially an LPC and looking for a place to unleash her treasure trove of counseling mastery! 

Thank you for your investment in my development through seminary, it is a concrete example to me of the free gift each of us receives from Christ. We have a God who makes hearts generous, for which I am humbled and thankful. 

Merry Christmas!

Photo Journal ::: URBANA 12

It is impossible to sum up the importance and impact of Urbana to someone not in attendance.  I will try to tell the story with pictures.  Be patient as the pictures may take a little bit to load.  As you look remember that your partnership helps make this possible and know I am sincerely grateful.  

• 3,796 commitments and re-commitments to follow Christ
• 4,000+ commitments to long-term missions (2+ yrs).  Thousands more to short-term.
  
• 6,400 to do evangelistic bible studies
  
• 5,000+ got prayer ministry
  
• 30,000+ world vision medical kits assembled for aids victims in Swaziland / 800,000 compassionate touches.
  
• 43,000 hits on Urbana live online

 

Here is a picture one of our photographers took as people began to respond to the invitation to follow Jesus.  Watch the invitation here: http://vimeo.com/56562419. Each glow-stick represents a commitment to follow Christ. 

 

 

The students who responded were immediately asked to go to a room we had prepared where follow-up, discipleship, prayer, gifts, and a celebration awaited.  Here is a picture of that room, in addition to a 2nd impromptu room we had to scramble to prepare due to the overwhelming number of responses.  

 

Prepared room:

 

 

Overflow room:

 

 

4,000+ committed to long-term missions, defined as 2+ years to life.  That sounds like a judge’s sentence, and that is somewhat fitting after David Platt’s sermon shook all 16,000+ of us to our core as he challenged us realize that Jesus has asked us to lay down our very lives for him – even lose them if necessary.  

 

I would highly, highly recommend watching this sermon: http://vimeo.com/56508165#at=0 

 

 

In addition to David Platt’s teaching, we received incredible teaching and testimony from missionaries and pastors from a wide variety of ages and ethnicities.  

 

We heard from Chai Ling, one of the leaders of the student movement at Tiananmen square. Her testimony of atheism, abortion, assault, and eventual abandonment to God’s mercy had tears streaming and students flocking to receive prayer ministry in droves.  We heard a story from a life-long missionary to an unreached people group whose loved one had died a martyrs death, yet stood before us saying, “My spouse did not waste their life.  We know what a wasted life looks like.”  Then exhorted us to that giving our lives to God’s purposes is the only life not wasted.  

 

Urbana director Tom Lin shared his profound testimony of how God led him from top-of-the-class at Harvard with a bright career ahead of him to planting a missions movement in Mongolia.  

 

Each morning we heard powerful teaching from our bible expositor Rev. Calisto Odede, a Kenyan pastor who taught us from Luke.  

 

 

Participants could choose to attend 2 seminars (of hundreds offered) each afternoon to tailor their learning to their interests.  Seminar after seminar was packed to the brim, some so full the fire marshalls had to prevent us from entering the building.  Topics ranged from things like “A Christian Response to Homosexuality” and “Theology of Suffering” to “Engaging your Hindu Neighbor” and “The Daily Life of Disciple-Making.”  Below is a photo of the first of two “The Daily Life of Disciple-Making” seminars led by David Platt.   

 

 

 

One of the highlights of the week was the “Join-In,” where we assembled over 30,000 world vision medical care kits for aids victims in Swaziland in the largest ever World Vision care-kit assembly line.

 

I beg you to watch this beautiful, short video:  http://vimeo.com/56112963#

 

For every 10,000 aids victims in Swaziland, there is 1 doctor.  Caregivers use these medical kits to provide care for these thousands without help.  Often, they must use banana leaves or plastic bags they find in the trash to apply medicines or touch those they care for in any way.  The kits we built at Urbana include rubber gloves that will provide for 800,000 compassionate touches. It was an incredibly joyful night watching college students build these kits and come alive with a sense of purposeful action in the name of Christ.

 

 

 

We worshiped.  A lot.  When was the last time you sang “Holy holy holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come…” with 16,000 others in 4 different languages at the same time?  If you have never been to Urbana, then the answer is probably never.  We did, and it was truly a glimpse into our future as believers.  

 

Urbana was just over 50% non-white participants.  Many ethnicities and cultures are represented at this gathering, and the worship reflects that.  We sang in Hindi, Chinese, Spanish, French, English, and Swahili.  When was the last time you went to a conference where the favorite song was sung in Hindi?  

 

 

The cultural diversity can also be summed up by these pictures.

 

Above: Dancing and rapping with famous Christian rapper Andy Mineo.  Below: Accordion worship.  Pictures taken 1 minute apart.  Only at Urbana!

 

 

Participants connected with 250+ organizations in the exhibit hall…

 

(Here an exhibit hall guide waits to guide students to an organization that fits their interest.)

 

         (The Wycliffe team is ready to recruit you.)

 

…and bought thousands of steeply discounted books from our bookstore….

 

 (David Platt signing Radical.)

…they creatively interacted with the concept of missions and calling….

 

 

…and they rang in the new year by taking communion and worshiping Jesus. (For a video taste of New Years Eve Urbana style, click here.)

 

 

But most importantly…

 

Their hearts and lives were challenged to conform to the heart and life of Christ.  They were given the opportunity to make tangible commitments that reflect this challenge.  They said yes by the thousands.  And because of this the kindgom of God has more, better equipped missionaries in every sphere of society. 

 

 

Each green light is a commitment to Christ.

 

• 3,796 commitments to follow Christ
  
• 4,000+ commitments to long term missions (2+ yrs).  Thousands more to short-term.
  
• 6,400 to do evangelistic bible studies
  
• 5,000+ got prayer ministry
  
• 30,000+ world vision medical kits assembled for aids victims in Swaziland.
  
• 43,000 hits on Urbana live online. 

 

Short video testimonies from students:

1. Click here

2. Click here

3. Click here

 

Thank you for helping me get students to Urbana.  It was a rewarding week as I got to see the fruit of a lot of recruitment pay off.  There is still much to do as we follow up in the coming weeks and months.  Please continue to pray for the students who made commitments and decisions for Christ.  Pray that God would grow these small seeds of faith into a rooted and fruitful tree.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jordan

/// For the full professional Urbana 12 summary video, click here!  ///

All Urbana videos available here:  https://urbana.org/urbana-12/videos

Some seminar audio: https://urbana.org/urbana-12/seminars

Professional photos: https://urbana.org/urbana-12/photos

Thanksgiving Thanks

“Billy Graham once observed that half of American missionaries can trace their vocational call — at least in part — to Urbana.      – Alec Hill, President of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA

Hello friends,

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and to let you know again how thankful I am for your prayers and generous giving.  So far you have given an extra $1,000 dollars this month towards my goal of raising $7,000 by Jan. 1st.  Thank you!  I look forward to sending you stories of students lives being changed at Urbana. Take a look at this short, incredible portrait of Urbana’s world impact by InterVarsity’s president, Alec Hill.  Urbana is a worthy investment!  Urbana Through the Decades (Click Here)

 

Thankful,

Jordan

Click here to give online.

urbana.org

99 Dollars.

99 dollars is…

• A common internet and cable bill.
• 1/3rd the cost of an Xbox.
• 1/5th the cost of the cheapest iPad.
• 1/10th the cost of an average big-screen T.V.
• 1/20th the cost of an average piece of pottery barn furniture.

There is nothing wrong with spending your hard earned money on any of these good things that many of us enjoy.  But if you also find yourself looking for new or creative ways to spend your money on the kingdom of God, will you consider giving a one-time gift of $99 dollars or more to help me see hundreds if not thousands of college students challenged to give their lives to God’s global mission at Urbana 12?  Getting more students to Urbana 12 is an investment that will change countless lives.

Give online @ https://donate.intervarsity.org/donate/to/jordan_kologe

I sincerely appreciate your partnership and participation.

Jordan Kologe