Unfortunately my life has been a little crazy, as you all may know, the past week or so and the last thing I have wanted to do was write. I'm coming back though, well, I am trying.
Almost two weeks ago on Monday night I was about to post that weeks update, when overcome by lack of sleep, I decided to go to bed and post it in the morning. What I didn't know was that less than thirty minutes later I would get a text message saying my little brother Caleb was being hospitalized and the world would proceed to crash down on top of me. Here then, are the reflections of myself on the week before nothing made sense in my life.
We have spent all week at the University of Tennessee working with the Chi Alpha team there. Chi Alpha is an amazing ministry sponsored by the Assemblies of God that meets on college and university campuses across the nation. We have spent a week here and will be spending another week here in Knoxville before we head out to another University.
The first part of the week was a little rough. This was the first time the Missio Dei had to step outside the bubble we had created and see the world as it is. We were definitely unprepared for what we would see on a university campus.
We came into this town with the idea that we were going to start a revival that spread across the entire university and all its 45,000 students. We came in guns loaded with little consideration as to what Chi Alpha had been doing. The two teams at first did not really understand what the other was doing which caused us to be unintentionally working separately from each other. Later in the week everyone got together to hear each other’s heart and we have come to understand each other and what our role as visiting missionaries is.
We were given the task of filling out 1,000 information cards from students which is a feat in itself. The first couple days were spent with everyone getting up the courage to start a conversation with complete strangers. It was easier for some than it was for others, I struggled a little bit but God kept giving me the strength.
Wednesday I brought my guitar and one of our girls sang right in the middle of the busiest road on the campus. We worshipped on the sidewalk with the intention of purposefully stepping outside our comfort zone and drawing attention to the Chi Alpha tent across from us. It worked. We heard later that some students were ridiculing us, which strangely was very encouraging.
That night Pastor Jessica, our missions director and adult supervision, was speaking at a Knoxville Christian Center (KCC), a church about ten minutes from the university where many of the students attend as well as the Chi Alpha director, Pastor Chuck Lester. It was a huge sanctuary and a rather large youth group. It was refreshing to be in an active contemporary church. We went to another church last Sunday, also in Knoxville that was very traditional but definitely hungry after God. I have to admit that it was hard to worship when I kept getting distracted by the 67 year old woman playing drums rather, uh, interestingly.
At KCC some of us had the opportunity to share a testimony or talk about Missio Dei to the group. I found out five minutes before that I was speaking too. I loved it. Fun youth groups are definitely my element and I haven’t had the opportunity to preach in awhile so it was good, even if I only had two minutes to speak. Afterwards I got to pray a salvation prayer with a student and I prayed with a couple possible future Missio Dei journeymen.
After service they had hamburgers and soda and we had the opportunity to talk with a lot of the students and hang out with them. I accidently dropped a glass bottle of orange soda on the beautiful tile floor which proceeded to explode into millions of pieces and flood the foyer in a river of orange stickiness. It turned out to be a great conversation starter. I should do it more often.
Thursday we all loaded up in the Armada (which by the way is not really suitable for 8 people to travel long distances, please help us pray for a 15 passenger van) and headed to Stockbridge. Everyone was crashing at my house because we were working at the Georgia Dome that night. Through a strange series of events we somehow became supervisors of concession stands during Falcons games. We work them as fundraising opportunities and it is a lot of work. We have to be there 5 hours before the gates open and 2-3 hours after the game ends. The worst part is that we have to be the experts at how to run a concession stand, something none of us have ever done before.
In Star Trek, the characters who always get shot by aliens first wear red uniforms. It is how you know they are extras. Our Dome uniforms are red.
Last Friday was our first game and I almost had a couple meltdowns. Everyone was asking me questions that I didn’t know the answer to and I felt like they had their phasers set to kill.
Thursday’s event went a lot better and I felt comfortable with everything. We got back late to Stockbridge and it was weird seeing my room not be my room anymore. I guess everyone has that moment when they realize they aren’t a kid anymore.
I was really glad to spend time with my family. I really needed it.
I came into this thinking that I was invincible. I never thought that I would ever feel like I couldn’t do this but it was only the beginning of week 3 and I was already feeling it. Every day stretches me so much that I couldn’t imagine this pace for 9 more months. I am still struggling a little bit but I am taking it one day at a time.
“Give us today, our daily bread.”
Being home reminded me that this is where I am supposed to be and that I can do this through Christ who strengthens me.
Friday morning we headed back to Knoxville to do more evangelism at UT. One of our journeymen had to go home because his dad is having heart trouble. His grandpa has already been having trouble so this is rough for him. It is weird on the team when we are missing even one. Satan is attacking different members of the team at home and it is just confirmation that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing.
So if you want to hear what happened the second week at the University of Tennessee you have to ask someone else, because I have been at home. Frankly the last week or so has been a blur anyway.
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