Trimming the Fat

It’s election season and in anticipation of the Presidential debate tonight, I offer you this extremely factual invitation to sponsor student recruitment to Urbana 12.

Summary. If 30 of you sponsor me by giving a one-time gift between $99-$299 THREE great things happen:

• I get to stop stressing about my budget deficit and concentrate on recruitment!
• More importantly, I get to keep working toward seeing God’s kingdom come in and through the lives of college students.
• You make a great investment.  Sponsoring me to recruit students full-time helps mobilize hundreds if not thousands of students from all over the world to a faith growing, worldview expanding, life-changing experience.  

Practicals.

• I am a missionary to college students.
• My work is about recruiting students all over the country to Urbana.
• Me working = more students at Urbana.
• Too keep working towards this end, I need your help.

Urbana recruitment is a great investment.

• This is Urbana in two minutes: http://vimeo.com/32211849#
• Students who come will leave changed forever.     
• Urbana alumni include:
  • Gary Haugen, founder of International Justice Mission
  • Tim Keller, author and pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City
  • John Piper, preacher, author and founder of Desiring God Ministries
  • Greg Livingstone, founder of Frontiers, the world’s largest missionary organization
  • (Student we recruit)

 Sponsor Urbana recruitment for $99-$299.

• Sponsoring one student mobilizes one student to Urbana.  Sponsoring me to recruit students full-time mobilizes hundreds.
• Give one-time gift online now @ https://donate.intervarsity.org/donate/to/jordan_kologe
• After Urbana this December, I will send you the pictures and stories of three students who made life-changing decisions at Urbana.
• I will follow up with many of you personally over e-mail.

At Urbana in 2003, I committed to go on a summer mission trip.  I look back at that moment as the catalyst that led me all over the globe in subsequent years caring for people, sharing the gospel, growing as a man and a disciple, and which ultimately propelled me into full-time campus ministry.  I need your help to give this same opportunity to more students around the world.

I am sincerely grateful and humbled by your partnership, prayers, and consideration.

Two months in bullet points…

Hello everyone,

A few quick updates for you from the last two months.

Thank you for your generous giving in December that met our financial needs. I am so grateful for such extreme generosity.

A few highlights from the semester so far…

• We gathered over 160 students from the region for a weekend in Sacramento to learn about the importance of our ethnic identity and how we can use it towards racial reconciliation.
• We gathered over 40 students from our campus, the University of Honolulu, to spend a weekend learning about the third (and often most misunderstood) person of the trinity, the Holy Sprit.  It was a very transforming and freeing time for several of our students, including a non-Christian student I have been meeting with regularly to talk about Jesus.
• My family visited in January, and we had a blast.  It was our first time together after Jennie and I’s wedding.
• My friend invited me to preach in his absence at Christ the Foundation Anglican Church.  It was my first experience preaching on sunday morning, and was (mostly) enjoyable.
• This one is a bit premature, but I share it in expectation.  Jennie and I will be sharing at large group this week about relationships.  When we polled our students about what they wanted to talk about, this was the unanimous winner.  As the only married people in our fellowship, we are excited to teach for the first time as a couple.

Big decisions, please pray for us.

We came to U of H on a 1 year commitment with a 3-part vision.

• To learn from the staff and students here about how to be missionaries together in a cross-cultural setting.
• To invest in the ministry of our marriage by starting out on an adventure.
• To continue working with InterVarsity.

The adventure has been wildly successful!

As our short-term commitment ends in May, Jennie and I are in the midst of discerning next steps.  The original plan was to commit short-term so that after the year we could return to Texas for Jennie to finish her master’s in Counseling degree from B.H. Carroll Theological Institute in Dallas, where her practicum must be done on-site.  While here, we have formed close friendships, and I have been offered an opportunity to pursue an apprenticeship as an assistant pastor at a local church.  There is also the option to continue with IV here, or continue working for IV in some capacity in Dallas.  Please join us in prayer as we seek to pursue God with these decisions.  Please pray for clarity of vision and purpose.

I would love to hear the latest with you and your family,

Jordan

Newsflash

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas! And now for a completely different approach to a year-end letter.  Close your eyes and picture this: You turn on the T.V. to NBC to hear Brian Williams chatting matter-of-factly.  A marquee scrolls in red at the bottom of the screen with the following news update:

“GOD INCARNATES AS NEWBORN. RESCUES THE WORLD.  PUTS EVERYTHING RIGHT FOREVER!”

Now picture me at campus the following day. What would I hear in response from the college demographic?

“Ridiculous!  God is a crutch week people use to make themselves feel better.  If God cares about the world, where is he?”

Or maybe,

“So a newborn baby is supposed to make my Dad stop doing drugs and care about me again?” or “Whatever people want to believe is great for them, the news shouldn’t talk about religion.”

The message of Jesus coming to our rescue is shocking, and frankly, a little confusing.  I understand why students would respond and do respond this way to such a startling story.  Most of us have marveled at the mystery of life, of meaning, of suffering, and of God’s intervention in our failure.  And how exactly does this baby rescue the world? These questions are exactly why the following statistics hold true:

-70% of students who grew up in Church will have left the Church during college.  (USA Today)

-College professors are 5 times more likely to identify as atheist than the general public.  (Crossexamined.org)

-Less than 1% of the ‘Mosaic Generation” (18-23 yrs/old) has a biblical worldview (Christianpost.com/Barna Group)

 

Eighteen million students will finish their semesters and go home for Christmas break at the end of this month.  When they come back, InterVarsity will be there to offer a loving, welcoming community and an invitation to follow Jesus in an environment where a Savior is a fairy tale and healthy communities are few and far between.

Over 1,500 IV staff around the country are on campuses to help students find answers to their questions, to pursue them with the truth in love, and to help them understand what Christmas means for their broken families, their atheist professors, their boyfriends and girlfriends, their difficult classes, and the rest of their lives.  Please know that your giving is the reason I am able to meet with Brandon, a seeker, and study the scripture together (pictured).  It is the reason I am able to talk and pray week after week with grad students Max and Isaiah, or teach students at our large group spiritual disciplines like lectio divina.

That’s why this year-end letter is coming to your home: to let you know I believe in the Gospel meeting the needs of this generation, and I need your continued partnership towards this vision.  Would you consider increasing your monthly donation or giving a year-end, one-time gift?

Secure, online, tax-deductible donations can be made here: https://donate.intervarsity.org/support/jordan_kologe

I truly wish you the merriest of Christmases as you celebrate the strangest, most miraculous news ever reported, the birth and life of Jesus our Lord!

Jordan

 

Hello friends a…

Hello friends and family,

 

THANKSGIVING

 

Just writing to wish you all a very happy thanksgiving with your families and take the opportunity to express my thankfulness to you. Obviously many of the stories I relate back to you all from campus have to do with students lives being impacted and changed.  And while I could tell you many many more from the past months, what I really want to say is thank you for investing in my development.  Most plainly: your generosity has enabled me to be a part of a ministry that has profoundly grown me as a follower of Jesus and this will shape the trajectory of my families entire life.  In my view, there is no more precious a gift.  Thank You.

 

CAMPUS

 

• GIG with Brandon: I continued to study to meet with Brandon and seen his continued growth from lonely seeker to an central part of IV’s ministry on campus.  He has now been plugged into the local Church and is growing daily.
• All campus ministries prayer event: Campus Crusade, Baptist Campus Ministries, Khi Alpha, and InterVarsity collaborative effort saw nearly 100 students gather for 2 hours of worship and prayer for specific areas of the University after an afternoon of engaging students at the campus center with interactive displays promoting awareness about several issues of social justice. (see picture and video below).
• Regional Conferences: 70+ staff from all over the pacific region gathered in Sacramento last week to wrestle with the topic of Multi-ethnicity. InterVarsity puts a lot of energy into teaching staff how to build a healthy ethnic identity (for ourselves and students) and how to relate across ethnic lines that can be the source of difficulty. The week was a big step forward for me personally as a white person in learning how to relate with humility and understanding.  

 

PRAYER

 

• New home! Our landlords father is taking over our apartment and we are needing to find a new place to live ASAP.  Pray for us to be able to find an affordable place close to our current apt.
• Fundraising: I am hovering steadily around the 70% funded range.  All our practical needs are met and so we count ourselves very blessed. Reaching 100% will allow my salary to slightly increase, which would be a most welcome gift as we try to maintain a healthy financial situation.  
• Brandon: Pray that he would surrender his life the Lord’s will.
• Our marriage: The greatest adventure of all… Pray for continued love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control for our marriage.

 

Aloha!

 

Jordan (and Jennie)

https://ourministry.wordpress.com/

http://youtu.be/tCLL5OJ0WNw

 

Photo Journal

Here is a snapshot from campus. Each Thursday we gather from 7-9 for worship and teaching, followed by dinner out at a local favorite.  Each of the 5 of us staff take turns teaching.  A few weeks ago I taught on how our value is connected to our created purpose to be the temple of God.

Here is a picture of all the staff and students at our fall retreat three weeks ago.  We camped out for the weekend at the botanical gardens in Kaneohe.  Lots of prayer, worship, teaching, and eating.  At the end we took a few hours to share stories about what we had learned during the weekend.  Several students shared how they had made significant decisions towards following Jesus, while many shared about how they had forgiven someone from their past for the first time.

We gather as a staff team for two hours every monday afternoon to pray for the campus, for students, and for one another.  One of the great perks to living in Hawaii is that we can have outdoor meetings year-round.

My favorite story from campus so far has to do with a student named Brandon.  I met him during the first week of school.  He was sitting by himself eating subway and we struck up a conversation.  It turns out Brandon just transfered to UH, was very lonely, and was seeking God.  He was wrestling with great questions like Is Jesus God?  Is Jesus the only way?  What makes Christianity unique?  Aren’t all religions true in some way?  Why does Hell exist?  We have been meeting weekly to study the scriptures.  He is now going to Church with some other IV students, in two weekly bible studies, and finding friendship.  Pray for me as I plan to invite Brandon to make a commitment to follow Jesus with his life in the coming weeks.

I’m sorry for being out of touch in the past months.  I think and pray for you all often as I am constantly humbled by a community of friends who believe in me enough to sacrificially give and to pray.  I am extremely thankful for your partnership and I would love to hear from you!