Mesa IVCF, A Reflection: The Journey of My Staff Experience

Mesa IV leaders 2012-2013 (from left to right: Flo, Sy, Evan, Myles, Logan, me John)

Mesa IVCF, a Reflection

Have you ever noticed that much of life is a mix of good and bad blended together? Everything has some good aspects and some bad aspects. Nothing is purely good or purely evil. Of course, God is completely good and Satan is completely evil. This up and down, good and bad, marked my journey through staff life as well. I wanted to share my journey on staff so that you get a closer viewpoint of some of the action and lessons I learned. In this entry you can expect to uncover some of the hard reality of sin, some of the ways trials and sufferings has brought growth in me, transformations of people from death to life, the stories of young people becoming leaders in the move to see Jesus’ Kingdom come, and some numerical highlights for the ministry this academic year (2012-2013).

The reality of the strongholds of sin

I always feel the need to define this term and so before I begin I will. Sin means to miss the mark and as a friend’s definition goes, it means also to fail to be human as we were created to be. Through the campus work, I saw the stronghold of Satan over people’s lives. At our spring retreat I heard one girl responded by learning about the Kingdom of God and the other Kingdom (Satan’s) that she was fine with being in Satan’s Kingdom. She was later healed of heart problems and hurt leg and a strange phobia of medical personnel (where I learned later was rooted in her previous physical abuse via some sort of medical person) and delivered from Satan by Jesus. She literally was delivered from a demonic possession, no joke. Remember Kendra (click “Kendra” to read her version of the story)?

Then there was Matt, he was another student who when I first had met him always had a strange demeanor of anger. When we finally had a deep conversation, I learned that he just found out he was a dad and this struck me (because of my son Nicholas). Over the course of knowing him, it seemed like he lied all the time and none of us knew if he was actually telling us the truth. On another note, there was a time he told me a story of his life and said that God was trying to kill him. When the reality of his statement finally caught up to me I immediately challenged this viewpoint of God (Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11). First of all, God doesn’t enjoy death but life (Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11, John 11: 33-35) and two, if God wanted to kill him, what would stop him? Even more happened with this guy. He made girls in our community feel unsafe because of sexual approaches he would make towards them. This guy stood up to receive Jesus, but struggled with lying and sexual addiction almost all year, which even led to his temporary banishment from the community to seek healing with a local ministry.

It’s crazy how junk has a grip on us and we hold on to it, Christian or not.

Trials and suffering

Much of my journey can be stated as learning to trust God through people. I have been stretched so much in this way. For a lone ranger, independent, and middle born child to rely on others was a huge change in lifestyle for me and I knew this was a huge personal growth edge. What happened through this journey exposed both the beauty of team work that the Body is meant for and also the hard ship of enduring broken promises. I experienced the great fruit of partnership with staff, student leaders, and donors and could never have reached places I have reached without you all. While at the same time I have felt the disappointment, pain, and uprising internal distrust as people have left their words unsupported through action. Have you ever had this happen? Have people let you down? While the pain is real and for me at least has the potential to drive me to self and God reliance only, God wanted me to rely on people. I believe He wants us to live in community and forgive sin as we have been forgiven. The broken vows can be mended through forgiveness and understanding and ultimately through the actions of Jesus. He is the ultimate community builder and has called all of us, even me, to rely on each other. Relying on community has brought up deep pain, but taught me to see the big beautiful picture of partnership in the Body of Christ.

                Have you ever loved through hurt, bitterness, resentment, and being misunderstood? God does; every day, every moment. Does this then surprise you that Jesus leads the way in forgiveness (Luke 23:34) and challenges us to (Mathew 6:14-15)? It shouldn’t. On the campus, between my relationships with donors, with my supervisors at Intervarsity, and surely other places God has taught me to see people as He sees them and speak forgiveness over them. They will indeed hopefully extend the same favor. Through these moments of loving through the residue of sin’s fruit (death), we learn about God’s heart. I've learned more about Him and His love as I've attempted to love through sin. Question for you: how bad do you want to know God?

Transformations through Encountering Jesus

Two of my favorite stories of transformation from the campus Kingdom work has been Logan and Sy’s stories. Logan’s is a story about God meeting him where his faith level was at (almost non-existent at times) through prayer. Sy’s story is a story of rapid growth and radical grace that spread into his family and is spreading into the world already through artistic means.

About a year ago, Logan came with his girlfriend to a retreat and he left with the same disposition towards Jesus, probably indifference. At our first large group in the fall, Logan stood up to receive the Love of God. He was pumped to take this risk, but nothing happened, at least in his mind. I challenged him that night to believe that though he didn’t feel anything, something substantial happened (Esther’s wisdom). He would take that as I think a second faith step. Throughout the year, he attended the prayer meeting that I led right in the middle of the day on campus. We would see God build our faith as He answered our prayer for a faculty advisor by the time we needed one and in a miraculous way I might add. Logan needed a job and prayed and had several interviews he had to turn down to get a job. His dad needed a job and we prayed for that. Guess what, his dad received a job offer. Finally, Logan’s faith in God’s ability to hear him and answer prayer turned in to him praying for people at this year’s spring retreat, seeing 4 people get physically healed. Want more?

About 2 years ago, a nominal catholic student stood up to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior. In 2 years a lot has happened. Sy was a leader in our community on campus and reached out to other students. But before the year even started God was at work in this guy’s family. He told us all later that his dad left his mom. As a Filipino family this was a huge offense (it is for any family but Filipino cultures are very family oriented. His mom was devastated. Sy and she started to study the bible together and she was inspired to stand in response to a message at a local church. Next, determined to get her husband back she went from San Diego to Victorville to stake her claim on their family. He received Jesus too. In more recent months, he invited his childhood dance friend to our retreat with SDSU where she gave her life to the Lord. Sy has been choreographing biblically based videos and sharing them at charity events and even online. Don't hesitate to get more of Sy's story and a video of his dance by clicking on the link above ("Sy").

Young people become Leaders in the Kingdom

If you were to look at Florence before, you would’ve thought of her as maybe a nuisance or really broken (and rightfully so based on her childhood). At a powerful moment in her faith journey, she came out of the water she had been immersed in yelling, “freedom” with her hands raised up in the air. She was so excited about the Kingdom of God and when she came to discuss becoming a leader with me I was interested in serving Jesus with her because of what she was saying. Her whole reason to become a leader was so that she can see people meet Jesus. Despite some uncertainty, I saw that God was bringing her in to our leadership team, the place where us staff have our most influence with students. These are the students who bring the kingdom to their campus. These are our partners in God's work, who happen to be current students attending the school. Florence loves Jesus and seeing His Kingdom come. She invited people to so many things and challenged many of our girls in the community to take risks for Jesus. At the end of our time together, I heard something from her that shifted a bit of my perspective about what we do on campus. When I asked her about her leadership experience she said, “You believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.” This was awesome to hear and I was reminded that when we partner with students we develop them in to leaders. In choosing leaders, I found it best to find those who God is raising up (another lesson learned).

Jesus chooses the seemingly unlikely in this world to do His will. Thank you God for that.

Some Numbers Measuring a bit of What God Did at Mesa College through our work (yours, the students and mine) for 2012-2013:

·         We reached out to over 180 students during our New Student Outreach event.

·         We had over 40 students in our community at least half of the time.

·         We had about 4 bible studies per semester, 1 prayer meeting, over 5 prayer outreaches, served a local homeless shelter, and shared the gospel through the four circle diagram.

·         We saw 8 people give their lives to Jesus in some capacity, either first time or a recommitment.

·         We mentored 10 student leaders in knowing more of who God is, who they are, and how to be missional.

This marks the end of our push to see His Kingdom come on Mesa..

Now to Him be the glory as He was at the forefront of all the good that came from our work on campus. I appreciate each of you and felt so many of your prayers. I realized more the reality of working as a team, as partners in the gospel because of you all. You have been my team, my partners for eternal things. Therefore, I would treasure your feedback. Namely, I would love to hear what you’ve learned through your giving to this ministry through all the means you have. I believe and hope our Mighty God will be blessed by the offering of our emotions, our prayers, our time, our finances, and our energy!