From Broken to Whole - Finding Christ in College Through Cru

A wonderful video of four lives transformed by Jesus...



The power of the gospel and the grace of God at work in and through students!

An Atheist's Journey to Faith

One can learn a great deal from the spiritual journey of others. Here is a compelling story of a former atheist.



What strikes you?

Powerful Life Story: Ed's Garden

Just watched this powerful story of Ed Dobson. I was casually aware of his name years ago. Now I know the "rest of the story" and it is a powerful story of spiritual journey...



Enjoy!

SuJo John: 9/11 Survivor

Over the last few years, we have begun to witness momentum grow on college campuses for speakers & programs who present the gospel relevantly. One of those has been SuJo John, a 9/11 survivor.  Here is his story.

(Special thanks to our friends in ministry at IamSecond).

I Once Was Lost

I was recently loaned Don Everts and Doug Schaupp's book, I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus, (IVP, 2008).

Though I am just in the process of becoming familiar with the book, I like what I see already. First, it starts with the audience. Perfect for the CoJourner paradigm (think, Explorer) and much preferable for our audience, as well!

Second, they emphasis the "path" to faith. How much more CoJourner-esque can you get. "Everyone is on a spiritual journey".

But the really valuable contribution is "the five thresholds" that mark similar "seasons of growth" or stages on the path to Jesus. Here is the essence:

1. The move from distrust to trust.
2. The move from complacent to curious.
3. The move from being closed to change to being open to change.
4. The move from meandering to seeking.
5. The move across the threshold of the kingdom itself.

Note the progression. Understanding the path helps create true empathy and understanding.

Can you see your own path to Christ through these "thresholds"?

I identify with 2-5.

Ex-Christian II

Earlier today, I posted on the Barna research with an intro regarding Anne Rice's departure from Catholicism ("Ex-Christians"). Later this afternoon, I received the Christianity Today eNewletter that featured, "Q&A: Anne Rice on Following Christ without Christianity". Since I mentioned the wikipedia quotes, it seems more responsible to include this interview to capture a fuller sense of Ms. Rice's journey.

Backstory: This Is Why I Sat Here

I sat next to a 33-year-old, Chicago businessman on a flight Thursday. An alumnus of a school with a strong basketball program, he asked who I rooted for. Being an graduate of Nebraska, I said, “We don’t have much to root for in basketball. But football is another story.” I then raised the “spiritual flag” by mentioning that I was in Christian ministry and had led the ministry for 7 seasons with the NE Cornhuskers back in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

“Are you a minister?” he asked. That started one of the most amazing spiritual conversations I have had in a while. I EXPLORED asking questions and listening: his church connections (limited, but he does like Willowcreek), answers to prayer that he and his mother have seen (amazing), his relationships (feels some guilt over them), his own spiritual journey. He said he didn’t understand Jesus, the Trinity, or why he had to die on the cross. He preferred to go “straight to the source” in prayer.

I asked if I could take a shot at explaining why Jesus had to die. “Sure,” he replied.

So I pulled out my Bible and napkin. I showed him Romans 6:23 and drew the “one-verse” diagram. We talked through it very slowly and clearly, making sure he understood each word and all three phrases. “Does this make sense?”

“Yes, but it brings up a hundred more questions,” he said. “Like what?” I asked.

That launched us into another hour of questions and answers: regarding eternal life and living life to the full in the present; re: self-centered marriages vs. Christ-centered marriage; regarding the sin of those who lived before Jesus died; regarding reading the Bible and the difference between the four gospels.

I gave him a copy of Backstory and explained the story behind it, walking him through the 7 themes. As I focused on the response pages, I asked, “Is this true?” “Wow, I don’t know. Maybe I am just afraid of commitment,” he answered.

As we were landing, I gave him my e-mail and said we would be praying for him. I asked if he did make the decision to trust Christ as his Savior and Lord, would he write me and let me know? “Oh, I am sure you will be hearing from me. You will be the second to know” (i.e. after his mother).

“I think this is why I chose to sit here,” he said as he was getting up. Indeed, I am sure it was!

Life Story: Brian Welch (Korn)

"Everyone has a story -- a life story."

Those are the opening line from Life@Large. It is so true and every story is worth hearing, exploring, considering.

Here is Brian Welch's story. It is another display of grace--the power of the gospel!



Thank you to those who put together, I Am Second.

Believe Again

Another account of A.N. Wilson's journey back to faith--this one from Breakpoint. My earlier post was "Why I Believe Again."

Have you ever known someone who has journeyed from faith to atheism and back? Fascinating to me.

"Why I Believe Again"

Always being interested in spiritual journeys, I found A. N. Wilson's particularly fascinating. He has written it in an article "Why I Believe Again" for the New Stateman (a U.K. publication.) It is particularly insightful in relating the inner thoughts and journey of one converted to atheism. But alas, atheism offers so little in life, that Wilson has journeyed back to faith. Remarkable story, really.

There are themes that remind me of G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy - the experience (and evidential power) of language, love and music.

What do you think? What does Wilson's journey suggest regarding the modern atheistic resurgence?

Native Student - Changed Life Story

Over the last few years, we have watched God use the efforts of C.C.C. to contextualize ministry to ethnic student audiences. There has been profound growth of these ministries. At CCC winter conferences this year, almost a third of the students were of ethnic or international background. Exciting!

Nations, the contextualized ministry to Native Americans, is one example. Here is the changed life story of Native--Nick Ross-Dick.

I Am Second

Have you seen this elegant, story-based site, called I Am Second? It is a very cool use of story for witness. I'm trying to get a read on it's metrics. Hmm... Wonder how much traffic it is seeing?

Here is one news story on it.

The Spiritual Spectrum

I just received a request for a graph I've used in illustrating the spiritual spectrum of our audiences. These are general categories that expand and contract dependent on audience we are reaching out to.


The general explanation is that while we are doing outreach...

• We’ll discover Christians – some who are Connected to a community of believers and growing. Some who are Unconnected.
• We’ll discover Seekers – who are searching for God in their spiritual journey.
• There are individuals who are Open – they are not actively seeking God, but they are generally open, if approached appropriately, if in a safe environment.
• The greatest majority may be the Indifferent. For them it is just not on their radar screen, they aren’t thinking much about it, because it seems irrelevant to how they live.
• Another group is the Resistant . Their resistance is rooted in world-views and beliefs that conflict with the gospel.
• Finally, there are the Hostile. Their hostility could flow out of strong beliefs that conflict with the gospel, but often it flows emotional issues like bad experiences in their past.

All of them need others to enter into their journeys and help them along. But before we can help show them the way to Jesus (the Guide) or get beyond their obstacles (the Builder), or encourage them to keep following Christ (the Mentor), we have to discover where they are at.

Changed Life: Mosab Hassan Yousef

My excellent co-worker, Holly, drew my attention to this -- the story of Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas leader who years ago found Christ as his Savior and Lord and is now speaking openly about it. If you only have two minutes, watch the video. If you five, read the interview. Very enlightening.

CoJourner in Action

One of the privileges of campus ministry is the students one gets to work with. For me, one of those I have been privileged to know is Matt Penland. Here is a glimpse into his life and ministry:

http://www.ccci.org/training/evangelism/cojourners/overview-model.aspx

His life and ministry has been a model of CoJourners.

Spiritual Journey: In God we Trust

From the Wall Street Journal on-line, The Currency of Faith, by JOHN ANDREW MURRAY

Here is a fascinating collegiate journey to Christ from the 1800's

http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110010930

Spiritual Journey -- Away from God

I often share the spiritual journeys of others -- most often those that lead to Christ. But we must face the reality that many journeys don't lead to Christ, and for many reasons. We should read those that lead away with genuine compassion and seeking wisdom to understand. Here is a heart-breaking story of one whose faith was broken by the moral failure of those who claim the name of Christ, but whose fruit indicate they are of a different nature (Matt 7:15-23.)

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-lostfaith21jul21,0,2152302.story?page=1&track=ntottext&coll=la-tot-topstories

Further Reflections on Darwin's faith (or lack thereof)

Last week, I published a quick post after stumbling on a mission's reference to Darwin's influence. (http://cojourner.blogspot.com/2007/04/darwin-big-supporter-of-missionary-work.html) I revised the post after a comment from an anonymous friend shed more light on the matter by steering me to a brief account of Darwin’s spiritual journey at: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/darwin.html Hmm… Fascinating.

But I left the posting up as it is a good reminder (and a bit humbling one, at that) of how easy it is for us to commit a logical fallacy – in this case, a “hasty generalization,” also known as the “fallacy of a lonely fact” or jumping to conclusion. Reminds me of James’ words, “we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man…” (James 3:2.) I know that James didn’t have logic in mind here. He was concerned with more grievous verbal faults (such as, cursing fellow humans.) But I suspect our failings show up in our logic, as well.

But also, this is a curious look at human nature. If, in fact, Darwin remained a life-long supporter of this mission (as claimed) and yet rejected the Christian faith (as chronicled), one must ponder why. Contradictory behavior can be found in lives of both the believing and unbelieving. We are a broken people.

But perhaps the most (personally) profound – I just happen to be at Colossians 1:23 in my personal Bible meditation this morning. Very applicable. “…if indeed you continue in the faith.” To continue implies that one hasn’t left (in the past), won’t leave (in the future) and thus is currently there (in the present.) “stable” that is, not wavering, resistant to change or deterioration. “steadfast” or firmly fixed in a place or position, in this case, “in the faith.” “…not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation…” Comparing the saving faith that Paul describes with the spiritual journey of Darwin (as chronicled on the above site), is sobering, to say the least.

Okay, now I am back to where I was before last week’s post – I am not interested in being “Darwinian,” even in my missiology. But I do wonder, how much common ground (if any) would we have had at the end of his life?

Spiritual Journeys: God Orchestrating Details (Again)

I boarded the San Antonio-Dallas flight, leaving our meetings a half-day early (the product of a communication mix-up.) I greeted the fellow traveler settled into the window seat, discovering him to be quite conversational (at least for a 7:00 am flight.) A meteorology professor from a university in the mid-south, Brian’s research specialty is hurricanes. There was immediate common ground—we had three hurricanes pay us a visit in the summer/fall of 2004 and had spent fall break 2005 helping with Katrina clean-up. After a delightful discussion of emergent insights into the field of hurricane prediction, the conversation turned to my world and ministry, and thus spiritual things.

[CoJourner - EXPLORER]
I showed Brian our project - Soularium: A Dialogue in Images (see http://cojourner.blogspot.com/2007/01/from-lab-soularium.html). He shared openly his thoughts on life, God and spiritual life. His wife was enjoying their current church affiliation, but for him it was less satisfying. Nor did he have any significant connection with like-minded professors at his university.

[CoJourner - GUIDE]
I shared with him about CLM (http://www.clm.org/) and said I could help get him in contact with this faculty ministry. But I also asked if I could show him Satisfied?, an outline I wrote with Dr. Bill Bright to help others understand and experience God’s gift of his Holy Spirit. (For a flash version, see: http://www.cccdev.org/inter-linc/satisfied/). We were half way through it as we landed in Dallas, so I offered to buy him a cup of coffee in the airport to finish. He readily accepted the offer. But after we deplaned, he declined the coffee (he doesn’t ever drink it), and said he only agreed because he wanted to be able to finish our discussion. So we sat down and completed the outline. It was a delightful discussion and as Brian reflected on his response, he appeared at the threshold of decision. He understood the need to surrender control of his life to the Lord and I am confident will continue to reflect on those possibilities.

[CoJourner – MENTOR]
I am now contacting Rick, my good friend and CLM National Director, to see if we can help make a connection for Brian with others who can encourage him in his spiritual journey.

As we finished, Brian said, “Now I know why I got iced into San Antonio. I was supposed to fly out on Wednesday.” “I was supposed to be in a meeting this morning and on a flight later today myself,” I replied. “I guess all things happen for a purpose,” he concluded. Indeed, God, the Master Designer, was orchestrating the intersections of spiritual journeys once again.

Spiritual Journeys - Conversations

I flew today. That's not too unusual, it about a monthly occurrence. I always wonder who I will sit next to and whether God will have a purpose in it. Sometimes they go to sleep. Sometimes we engage in conversation. Sometimes it gets significant. Today was like that.

I sat next to K., an engineer in the defense simulation industry. He is originally Muslim, from Palestine. I won't trace all the conversation. But the most profound came after discussing the five tenets of Islam, I asked him what his experience of God has been like -- He is the creator, provider, judge who watches everything, his will is always done, etc. I asked if I could share my experience - how I came to know Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord and how he has changed my life. I don't know if the light of the gospel shone through my life and words. But I know it was a delightful conversation. Since K. lives about five miles from me, its likely that we will visit again. We exchanged contact information, so the door is open.

My next conversation was with L., a gun dealer from Oregon; a member of the Latter Day Saints. We talked about his work and mine. He was intrigued by our ministry - seeing students lives transformed by Christ. I discovered the source of his interest -- his own children are his concern. They are not embracing, nor living the "faith" he has sought to teach them.

My final flight (it was a long day) I sat next to a young couple - followers of Jesus.

Three conversations. Three examples, once again, that everyone is on a spiritual journey. We don't always get to enter into that journey with others. But we can be confident, they are on a journey!