Big Announcement!

Hello Friends,

I have several very important and exciting things to share with you so read carefully.  This update is a little longer, so I highlighted the main points in bold.

First, my wedding is only 8 days away!  I am getting married June 11th, and can’t wait to begin the adventure of marriage with my bride-to-be, Jennie. I’ve attached a picture of us.  As you can see she is far better looking than me.  I attribute this to many of your prayers for me through these years of bachelorhood.  “Dear Lord, we are asking for a miracle on Jordan’s behalf…”

Second, I am so excited to share with you about my relocation with InterVarsity to Hawaii! Ok, go ahead and get the eye rolls out of the way… I don’t blame you. As my two-year commitment to IV at Central ended this spring, Jennie and I began to pray and dream about what our next step, and our first step as a couple, should be.  To very candidly share with you our discernment process, three things stuck out to us.

1. After dating and being in engaged long-distance, we felt our first season of life together should allow us time to invest in the ministry of our marriage.  Not to the neglect of my ministry with IV, but with an understanding that a healthy ministry together begins with a healthy relationship between us.
2. We both have a still ambiguous sense of ‘call’ to missions, potentially abroad.  We want to set a tone in our marriage that maintains a open posture to risk, crossing cultures, and re-location.
3. We want to have fun!  We wanted to pursue an option that would allow me to continue the work that I love doing with IV in a new and adventurous context.

As I spoke with who is now my new boss in Hawaii, we came to feel that the Lord had very much prepared the way for us.  A good friend of mine in Oahu offered us free housing and car for a month because his extended vacation perfectly coincided with the date we would move.  Jennie was able to transfer jobs to a store location in the exact town we would live in.  And best of all, the InterVarsity team there wants to learn about and launch GIGs (probably the thing I am most passionate and experienced with in ministry) on campus next year. My job will include training staff and student leaders how to lead GIGs (investigations of Jesus based on reading stories in scripture with non-Christian friends), leading GIGs on campus, helping with large group and outreach events, and cross-cultural missionary training (I will be the only white person on a staff team of 6).  This is my dream job! 

They are asking for a year commitment.  While we are in Hawaii Jennie will work towards finishing her masters in counseling through online classes, and we will return to Dallas, TX next year for her practicum.

Amidst all of the excitement of new and great things ahead, I am grieving my farewell to Central students and the staff I’ve come to know and love over the past two-and-a-half years.  The sadness is enormously lessened knowing the ministry at Central is in the capable hands of student leaders we have raised up over the past two years, and a new  IV staff-worker named Kodi Thompson-Moore.  I have had the chance to spend time with him and couldn’t be more pleased.  If you currently support me because you are invested in the ministry at Central College specifically, please consider contacting him (thompson@grinnell.edu) as he is currently raising funds to be on campus in the fall.

As usual, you are invited to partner with me in two ways.

PRAY.
-For Jennie and I’s wedding, honeymoon, marriage, and first year together.
-For the Lord to go before us into ministry in Hawaii.  In a new cross-cultural context, I will have so much learning to do.
-Pray for a movement of GIGs to be launched on campus in Hawaii and for lost students to begin to follow Jesus through them.
-My hours will be lessened and I will be looking for another part-time job, as will Jennie.  Pray we find good jobs and an affordable place to live.

GIVE.
-Higher costs of living in Hawaii and getting married will influence my budget.  More details soon.
-Give online: https://donate.intervarsity.org/support/jordan_kologe

As always, would love to hear from you or share more about this next season of life.  I am so excited for what is ahead, and continue to be genuinely humbled and thankful for your generosity and support.  THANK YOU.

Sincerely,

Jordan
https://ourministry.wordpress.com/

Stories from Campus

Hello!

Another video update for your enjoyment.  3 minutes to learn how your support is changing lives….

Highlights

*18 students become followers of Jesus

*Around 30 non-Christians engage in discussions surrounding stories of Jesus in scripture

*Central students testify before hundreds of students from around the region about how GIGs changed their life.

THANK YOU for your support.  You are partners with me, and God has used our efforts to eternally impact lives.

Sincerely,

Jordan