:: M squared T ::

:: Sunday, August 31, 2003 ::

Wet House

Friday we had a nasty rainstorm. It wouldn't have been so bad, except the roofer, who was supposed to finish roofing the house THREE WEEKS AGO, didn't get the tarp over the stripped part of the roof correctly. Out of 22 rooms in the house, 9 were wet, along with the back stairs and part of the living room. M Squared T and the BSF's odd-jobs contractor went up on the wet roof to reattach the tarp and try to cover up the house as best we could. We stemmed the tide, but not completely. The roofer came back later, and he's paying for the damage... including (I hope) my ruined pair of shoes, which reek to high heaven after getting soaked in the rain reattaching the tarp.

Now the rain is coming down steadily outside my window. So far, so good. The gutters are still bad, but they will be fixed (as soon as the durn roof is done). I hope my housemates are still dry...

:: Matt 8/31/2003 06:24:00 PM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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Indie Allies Meetup Day

Hey folks: this is for anyone reading from Illinois/Indiana - I just signed up for the Indie Allies Meetup Day sponsored by The Ooze. Looks like I'm the only one so far. Anyone else interested? E-mail me and go to http://indieallies.meetup.com/ to sign up.

Check it out! Don't be shy...

:: Matt 8/31/2003 05:37:00 PM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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Illini Football!!!!

Ok: just to clarify for the non-Americans who read this... this is the non-round version of football... you use your hands, mostly. :)

Today was the Illini season opener against Mizzou at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. It was a real close game. Unfortunately, Illinois lost. Darn.

But the QB's looking really good. Jon Beutjer completed some amazing passes... just couldn't convert them into points. Next week, we take on ISU!!!

:: Matt 8/30/2003 11:36:00 PM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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Recruitment, Discipleship or Football?

The last few days have been filled with work attempting to make contact with new students at the University of Illinois. I don't know how it is elsewhere, but I have observed an extremely high level of competion between the various Christian groups here in Champaign-Urbana in the effort to recruit students.

Many groups approach students much like military recruiters or salesmen: here's our product, here's what we have to offer, here's what you can get out of it - so that we can get something from you. There's a numbers race - which group is the biggest (and therefore doing the most effective ministry)? There's a race for workers - we have a job to do and the only way we're going to get it done is to recruit students to do it all, so we better "git while the gittin' is good". There's a certain paranoia that if we don't do recruitment the way everyone else does it (but just a bit better, nonetheless), we'll lose out and our ministry will die - immediately.

Such is the internal dialogue - within each group.

Externally, it begins to look like a football game - the teams lined up against each other, ready for the ball to be snapped. The crowds are cheering for their teams and heckling the other crowd. "Our team's better than yours is!!!" "Go, team, go! Beat the other guys!!!" Everyone's sizing everyone else up.

How can we get the focus off of ourselves and shift to a mission-minded emphasis? Instead of recruiting students so our ministry can be sustained, or get bigger, or beat out the other groups, why not instead take the tack of primarily investing in the lives of students - so that they can mature and (gasp) leave for good! What's wrong with getting them to the point where they don't need us anymore?

Our discipleship must be purposeful. This is no more true than in the first weeks of school at the University. But this will require a shift from "recruitment" to discipleship when the students arrive. And it most certainly means not competing with other Christian groups. That's just bad form.

:: Matt 8/28/2003 12:18:00 AM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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Busy days ahead?

All the students moved back to the U of I yesterday and today. Tomorrow and Tuesday we have "Student Recruitment" at the BSF. Looks like I'll be putting my 20 hours in over two days. Whew! I'll let y'all know how it goes.

:: Matt 8/24/2003 10:30:00 PM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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A Whole Lot of Mission

Today we printed a flyer for distribution during student recruitment - all about the mission opportunities. We have four real leads locally and there is a diversity of stuff to do. We will be joining with Habitat for Humanity, Restoration Urban Ministries, TALKS Mentoring and one other organization (details still in process). Nationally, we will continue our tradition of sending students to work for Habitat for Humanity over Spring Break. We also have two denominationally-affiliated agencies doing inner city work which we hope we can connect with.

Internationally, we have more opportunities than we can begin to work with. I hope to send people on Xtreme Team Mission Adventures. We will be sending some people to Honduras with the Latin American Mission Project (LAMP). Possibilities abound in other parts of the world. If you would like us to send a group your way, please feel free to e-mail me at the "contact" e-mail address above.

God's working here and it's exciting!!!

:: Matt 8/22/2003 11:04:00 PM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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Smashing Success

Today Koinonia and Stratford Christian Cooperatives began their "work week" activities. Koinonia (Koin) is the undergraduate men's house run by the Baptist Student Foundation (BSF). It is made up of 36 Christian guys who share all the cooking and cleaning for their house and engage in mutual discipleship. Stratford (Strat) is the undergraduate women's version of the same thing. Each has aspects that look much like the Greek (Fraternity/Sorority) system.

Work Week is the three or so days before the start of classes when all the students return to clean and set up for the semester. Strat's front steps and sidewalk was in need of repair; a crew of Koin guys and a couple of others (including myself and a contractor) took a sledgehammer to the existing concrete and prepared the forms for pouring new steps tomorrow.

I had an excellent opportunity to get to know several of the guys & gals by working alongside them today. In the process, I was able to introduce the new folks to the BSF and explore the ministry possibilities together. Needless to say, it was a smashing success.

We are going to have great opportunities for Christian service to the poor in our community through four local organizations we are partnering with. We have possibilities for regional trips during campus breaks and - even more exciting - several possibilities to send people overseas in the next year for short-term mission/service opportunities.

God is at work here in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois at the Baptist Student Foundation. Continue to pray for willing hearts to serve God and increased leadership development - especially among undergraduates. Praise God for the work he is doing and will do!

:: Matt 8/21/2003 08:03:00 PM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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What's Up

I'm back from a blogging hiatus. I've wrapped up work with the hospital (last friday, 15 August), and now I'm beginning work with the Baptist Student Foundation for real. I am staying in the BSF's Sutton Place Christian Cooperative for Graduate Students - home of 22 American and international students studying everything under the sun.

My new position is "Service Ministries Coordinator" and I will be networking college students with mission and service opportunities locally, nationally, and internationally. I hope to have some interesting posts this year.

I'll try to get back here tomorrow for more interesting stuff!

:: Matt 8/18/2003 11:18:00 PM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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You're Not Like A Minister, You're Like a Friend

A person I know from church said this to me today. They were struck by how they could talk to me like a friend and "not like a minister."

Are ministers unfriendly? Are they distant? Why does "friend" seem so unlikely a title for a relationship between a professional minister and other church members?

:: Matt 8/04/2003 10:41:00 PM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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Hugging a Toilet as a Parable to the Atonement

There is no real good way to clean a toilet without hugging the bowl or the tank or both during at least part of the operation. When this is a community toilet - one that others share with you - your perspective on your neighbors changes. All are human - simply human - united by the exigencies of embodied human life.

In reality, we are united by the part of our lives we are often the most private about - the part we consider "dirty". So when the person cleaning the toilet sets to work, he or she must contend with the dirt of the whole community, and risk becoming soiled him- or herself in the process.

In the same way, God in Jesus Christ fully embraced our fallen humanity so that he could purify us. He united with our humanity and did not turn away when it meant his potential defilement - that was how much he loved us. And on the cross, he turned the place of disgrace into holy ground. I think there's a lot more in there, but that's what I've got so far.

:: Matt 8/03/2003 10:02:00 PM :: permalink :: comments (0) ::
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