Long overdue….

Hey everyone,

Here is a LONG overdue update on happenings at Central…

URBANA 09

We took approx. 30 students to Urbana 09 in St. Louis over Christmas break. One student, James, testified that Urbana was one of the best experiences of his life for his faith. He said it played a huge part in him deciding to re-commit his life to follow Jesus. These students were exposed to teaching from world renowned missionary leaders as well as missionaries working in far off corners of the earth with unreached people groups no one has ever heard of. We rang in the new year worshiping with 17,000 students from all over the world. I, being the intimidating figure that I am, was relegated to keeping the streets of downtown St. Louis safe at night while students walked back to their hotel after we welcomed 2010…(picture below)

Also check out the Urbana09 summary video and my favorite teaching (titled “the INCARNATION) from Urbana in the right hand column videos. Definitely worth watching! Check out more AMAZING teaching from Urbana by clicking HERE

GROUPS INVESTIGATING GOD

Much of our energy has been leveraged towards mobilizing students to start informal discussions and scripture studies centered on the stories of Jesus with there friends who are not followers of Jesus. For those of you at Lake Forest, this shares your vision of being the Church for those who have given up on Church but not on God. We have seen students express interest in ‘spiritual things’ but who would never feel comfortable going to our large group worship or to Church with us. So the idea of a Group Investigating God (GIG) is to take the gospel to people, right were they are, in the context of real friendship and honest discussion of the life of Jesus. So far this semester we have seen 25 students take this risk with their friends. Students all over campus are spending time in the scriptures together, asking hard questions, praying honest prayers… many for the first time in there life!

I am doing a GIG with a friend of mine from college who still lives in town. The first week we met he wanted me to give him an ‘overview’ of what the bible is and why it means anything. When I was finished explaining the gospel, he looked at me with wide eyed and said “So it’s about way more than just being good??” It is so beautiful to see the truth resonate in the heart of a friend. Many times our friends who don’t know Jesus are just waiting for an invitation from someone they trust.

THE SUN HAS RETURNED

I am so happy to see the sun come out and the snow thaw. It has been a brutal winter here in Iowa. Took my bike in for a fix, got some disc golf discs, and I am ready for spring.

THANK YOU

I continue to be so incredibly thankful for the grace and kindness you each show to me in supporting me and our work with students at Central. I know your time and money is very valuable and there are so many things to give it to. I can never say thank you enough for your partnership. I would love to hear personal updates from you guys, you know my email!

Jordan