Mirroring God's Heart

Two weekends ago, Chi Alpha WSU returned from our annual fall retreat at Camp Sanders, near Tensed, ID. Our group joins the Chi Alpha group from the University of Idaho at this retreat every year, and it is always encouraging to make connections with Chi Alpha students from another campus. It is an excellent reminder that while I invest my efforts here in Pullman, God is working to reveal Himself to people across the globe. The speaker whom we invited to Fall Camp this year is named Michael Mowry, the campus director of Chi Alpha at Central Washington University. He spoke on the topic of finding the heart of God throughout scripture.

Students from Chi Alpha WSU and U of I

What struck me from the first passage that he preached on (the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and prodigal son in Luke 15) was how God is pleased to share His blessings with us, even when He knows that we're likely to just waste them. It doesn't make logical sense to me that the father of the prodigal son would give him "his share of the inheritance" even though, first of all, the father should only give an inheritance when he dies; and second of all, the son shouldn't get anything anyway, since he's not the oldest son.

Then, in the third preaching session, Michael taught about a very common misconception of salvation in a way that really stayed with me. Rather than attempt to describe it for you in words first, I am going to show you an image that I drew at the retreat to illustrate his point:

Diagram of salvation ideas

Now, I will explain. In the figure on the left, it shows that Jesus is a part of your heart, indicating that you have invited Jesus to be in your life. However, in the figure on the right, we see that really, when you invite Jesus to truly be your Lord, you become a part of the body of Christ. This analogy reveals two important areas about salvation that I think are not accurately portrayed in a lot of Christian culture. First, it shows us that true repentance requires us to put aside our own plans for our lives, and acknowledge that God's Plan is both bigger and better than any plan that we could try to formulate. Second, we become aware of a need to act as a part of the body of Christ, rather than trying to act on our own will. This translates to a sense of belonging to and serving within Christian community.

So what exactly is God's heart? For us to hear His voice in our lives, and act on it. He has invited us to participate in His Plan together with Him, in a way that expands far beyond the reach we might ordinarily have. Granted, it is the greatest challenge of our Christian lives to try and live according to God's Plan, because it requires that we fully and completely trust Him to know what's best for us. I can think of no better way to end this post than with John 13:17, the same Bible verse that Michael ended the camp preaching with: "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

Looking Forward

As I mentioned in my newsletter for this month, this past weekend was the Chi Alpha student leaders' retreat. In brief, this time was a precious opportunity to connect with the student leaders and the Chi Alpha staff, and also to communicate along the lines of our vision for the future. Rather than bore you with an in-depth exposition of what our vision is, I will summarize it, and then give you a few examples from my own life of this vision in action. The vision of Chi Alpha is to be a growing, passionate community on our campus that is radically obedient and devoted to Jesus. The first step in actualizing this vision is to become the healthiest, most passionate community that we can be, so we have decided on a plan to get there. (Please note: this is not to say that Chi Alpha is not healthy or passionate; but rather, that we want to be even more so.)

Our plan for Chi Alpha much resembles the planting of seeds in a garden. We will be starting small, with only one men's small group, either two or three women's small groups, and one international small group. Ideally, we will be planting these Cores in a single residence hall, to focus our influence on campus. Then, our goal for our Cores will be that they will each be in a mature enough condition, spiritually and numerically, to plant a new Core in another residence hall next year while maintaining a presence in the location of the original Core. The idea is that our presence on campus will grow exponentially in this manner, and in just a short time, we should be much closer to seeing the gospel preached to every single person at Washington State University. And that is God's will for our campus, so I know He will honor our prayers for this vision!

Already, I have stories to share with you of the impact that this vision can have. The first story is as simple as an invitation to dinner. Usually, during the summer break, the Chi Alpha students still in Pullman gather weekly for a smaller, simplified version of the weekly worship and fellowship night that we hold during the school year. This summer, however, no one was available to facilitate such a meeting, so unfortunately, it didn't happen. So, once I returned to Pullman from my support-raising in Cheney, I decided to host a dinner at the Chi Alpha House and invited all the friends I knew in town for the summer, both Christian and non-Christian. The result was that good connections were formed between a few non-Christian friends of mine and the Chi Alpha family, leaving the door open for Jesus to be shared. Below is a picture of one of those weekly summer dinners.

The second story I have involves just the willingness to see with the eyes of Christ. Many missionaries from the Latter Day Saints Church walk the hills of Pullman, and although I do usually engage with them in polite and sincere conversations whenever they approach me, I don't usually talk for long. However, this time, God had some other plans in mind. A trio of Mormon missionaries came up to me on campus yesterday and invited me to go with them on a tour of their local church building. Seeing that I had nothing better to do at the moment and that God could use me to be a witness of the full truth of the gospel, I accepted. After being shown the inside of the building, with its sanctuary and its baptismal font, I ended up talking with the three missionaries and two of their fellow church members for over an hour. I picked up on some very subtle, yet enormously significant differences in theology between our faith and theirs. I engaged them in questions and challenged them to pray and meditate on the biblical epistle of Hebrews. Now, I can eagerly look forward to the next time we meet to discuss the Scriptures and our interpretations of them, because I know confidently that the Spirit of God will reach out to their spirits through the Holy Word of God.

The third story I want to tell is an example of the kind of miraculous opportunities that only the Lord can provide. This morning, I sensed the Spirit leading me to grab my guitar and worship God on a nearby grassy field known to WSU students as Thompson Flats. After I sang and played "Sing To The King", one of my favorite songs, a student from northeastern China walked up to where I was sitting and nervously asked me if I was a Christian. Smiling, I assured her that I was, and she asked where I went to church. I briefly explained my connections with Chi Alpha, and she responded that she was also a Christian and wanted to find a church here in Pullman. Now Faith, a graduate-level Civil Engineering student at WSU for seven months, finally has some connections to a church in the area, thanks to her courage and the universality of modern praise songs.

Hallelujah! God is amazing and awesome. Please join me in praying for the Mormons I met yesterday (Elders Hsieh, Lu, and Hargiss, and Skyler and Micah), that they might be given discernment and wisdom regarding the perversion of the truth that their religion is. Also, praise God with me that He introduced Faith to Chi Alpha today.

Coming Full Circle

Last summer, I sent out my first email newsletter update with a front page article about a group of students from International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. They came to Washington State University in order to study English in an intensive, six-week-long course. Well, this summer, a new group from ICU came to WSU, and I got to have some hands on experience helping them learn English. One of the Chi Alpha staff members here, Weston, has seen God open many doors for ministry within the community of international students at WSU. He learned of a volunteer opportunity that involved watching American films with the ICU students and discussing the content with them in English, to develop their vocabulary and critical thinking skills in our language.

So, for a little over two weeks while this volunteer opportunity was available, I spent time in a hot, stuffy classroom with about eight Japanese students and a few other native English-speakers and watched "The Incredibles" and "Despicable Me" on a dilapidated projector. And let me tell you, it was worth every minute! Though we did not talk much about spiritual topics in class, I was able to share a little of my beliefs as a Christian outside of the classroom at a weekly barbecue for international students held by various local churches at a park. Several of the students were very open about discussing morals, ethics, and related philosophical matters.

The picture above shows this new group of ICU students out for a weekend excursion at the Moscow, ID farmers' market. Along with the group's two leaders (third in back row and far right), a fellow Chi Alpha student (far left) and I were invited to join the group at the farmers' market. I hope and pray that the connections we make while the group is still here (which is only for one more week) will be fruitful for God's Kingdom.

Reach the U Institute: Learning to See Opportunities

The above picture shows the 107 attendees of last month's Reach the U Institute (and yes, you can find me in the 2nd row from the front, 6th from the right). Though my time there was comparable to trying to drink water from a fire hydrant, I did say I wanted to share with you some of the lessons I learned from this conference. So, here is one of those lessons.

Sharing the Gospel with people does not need to be complicated, hyper-spiritual, or even difficult. All we have to do is have a heart that breaks for the lost, and be obedient when an opportunity comes along to share the message of Christ with people. However, I have found it hard to recognize those opportunities at times.

Imagine my surprise when, at this RUI conference, I met a few Chi Alpha interns from campuses on the East Coast who have found a unique opportunity to share the Gospel with students who play an online computer game called "League of Legends". They meet students who play the game, invite them over to their Chi Alpha ministry houses to play the game with them, and then when these relationships start deepening beyond the game, they share their testimonies. Already, one student has come to know Christ through this ministry, and another student is close behind, God-willing.

What I found remarkable about this story is that I myself play League of Legends as a hobby, but I had not really considered it to be an opportunity to minister. Once I talked with these fellow interns, I decided that I would attempt to make my time playing League of Legends more eternally valuable. Imagine my excitement when, just two days ago, I met a player online and began chatting with him about some pretty serious subjects.

This virtual conversation turned all too real yesterday, when he admitted to a legitimately suicidal attitude and told me that all he had to live for was getting good enough at the game to become a professional player. I asked God to give me wisdom and guidance in our conversation and prayed for the Holy Spirit to encourage this player, whom I only knew as his in-game name, "InfinityX".

We chatted for another hour or so, during which time I was able to share my faith in Jesus as the primary motivation to live and find joy in living. He told me that he was also a Christian, but did not think that his religion was as much of a motivation. So, I challenged him to ask God to be present with him in times of emotional stress, and see if it works. He said he would do that, and the next time I chatted with him online, he thanked me for the advice, and also mentioned that now he can play League of Legends without falling victim to the fits of rage that used to plague him.

This player and I have exchanged first names, and I hope to continue getting to know Ryan better and sharing more of our lives together through this opportunity. As I take a step back and look at this situation, I have to laugh because I see God's sense of humor even as I witness His love and sovereignty. This specific opportunity to help someone grow in his relationship with Christ could not have happened without me learning to seek out every chance I can to share my faith.

Please pray for Ryan, as I continue playing League of Legends with him, and hopefully develop to a point in our relationship where I can disciple him as a fellow believer, not just a fellow player. He says he attends a church in his hometown, but from just a brief chat about his church, it sounds suspiciously cult-like to me.

April 2013 Newsletter [Archive]

Click images to enlarge.