WSC

Last Tuesday Terah and I had the chance to stop by Wayne State College and meet with a few leaders about doing Missional Communities around campus. It was a great time to get together with these men and women as we processed and prayed for pockets of people around campus. Praise the Lord for men and women who are willing to go as missionaries to their friends and peers with the mission of sharing Christ with whomever God has prepared to hear.

-Ethan Wiekamp

Hasting follow-up

Where do I begin?! As Ryan alluded to in the last entry, perhaps Acts 2 would be a good starting point. "Everyone devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles." "...and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:42-43 & 47b

Craig and I met with Ryan, Vanessa, and Jess from HC yesterday and were so encouraged to see these leaders taking steps of faith and moving forward in prayer. They are meeting to pray every day, and as a result they are seeing God move in amazing ways all over campus.

One girl just accepted Christ, another student started a Bible Study and already has 6 men involved who would otherwise have no spiritual contact, prayers are being answered (literally) around the world...and there's more!

Praise the Lord for what is happening at Hastings College and for willing student leaders.

-Ethan Wiekamp

Prayer Taking Place at Hastings College

From Ryan Potter, Senior, Hastings College:

As we got ready to leave on the 27th, my brother (in Christ) Brandon and I prayed for our trip to Minneapolis! It was at that moment that I knew God was going to do something huge those next few days at TCX. I went into TCX expecting to have change take place in my life…And oh, did the Lord answer my prayer!

(Since returning from TCX) God has already begun to work miracles in the lives of students at Hastings College. We have made a time to pray at 10:00 p.m. every night ( up to 25 Hastings College students have been walking around the campus to pray each night) and it has been amazing to see our Father unite a body of believers. God continues to amaze all of us because we are starting to see the power of prayer…lives are being transformed, people are being healed, and leaders are becoming warriors for Christ!

My prayer and our prayer has been that Hastings College would become a Holy Ground! I believe it is going to happen! Prayer has not only unified our campus, but it has become the talk of campus…Now I am not here to brag or boast in anyway, but one of the best comments was said as I ran into a girl the other day from campus. She said, “So I hear you and others have been praying for our campus?” I just nodded my head and said, “Expect God to move this semester!” God is using people like us to change the campus, the community, and the world! A bond has been created between the body of believers (Catholics, Methodists, Lutheran, E-Free, Assembly of God, etc) and as we come together every night, we have one thing in common: Christ!

This group has begun to remind me of the book of Acts. As I read in Chapter 2, it talks about the believers coming together and having everything in common (v. 44). It goes on to talk about the believers meeting together everyday and the Lord adding to their number daily those who were being saved (v. 46, 47). This is not a vision, this is becoming a reality! Something huge is happening here…and why? Because a group of people were called by God to start a prayer walk and team! The foundation of a movement must start with prayer…then and only then will God begin to move through his children…because they have professed to submit everything in their lives to him!


I am blown away to hear what is going on at Hastings College, and believe prayer will be answered and lives will be changed, and our State impacted as a result in the coming weeks, and months. -Craig Johring

Missional Communities

As I’m writing this blog entry the last night of the Denver Christmas Conference is coming to a close. This was a great year and I really feel as though God is moving in a fresh new way throughout the CCC students from Nebraska in attendance. Personally, I am once again struck by the fact that God has things under control, and He will speak clearly if given the opportunity.

I (literally) just finished meeting with students from Wesleyan, North Platte Community College (midplains), Chadron State College, Columbus Community College, and Wayne State College, and I’m excited to see how God will bless these students as they move forward in obedience.

A typical problem today is having a ministry that will insist it is growing while failing to reproduce. Growth results in reproduction. This is true in a single cell amoeba and it should be true in Christians as well. Tonight I had the opportunity to get together with several leaders who had identified the problem, and who are willing to do something about it.

The context of our meeting was to send out (Luke 10) missionaries around each of the schools represented. They are leaving equipped to prayerfully seek out a person of peace at their school who might be receptive to the message of Jesus Christ. It was so exciting to meet with these students whom God had already been preparing, and to send them out into the harvest. Please join with me in praying for these leaders as they take some rather scary steps of faith in the upcoming weeks.

God and Football

Those of you who follow the NFL have probably heard the news that Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy recently lost his oldest son to suicide. Dungy is a believer and stalwart man of faith. I just read an article by Sports Illustrated’s Peter King where he mentions the impression that Dungy made in how he is dealing with this personal tragedy. The following is an excerpt:

Following his son's death on Dec. 22, Dungy thought long about when would be the right time to return to coaching. He said that if he was to be a man of his convictions -- and his convictions are those of a man of God, he could not wallow in his sorrow; he needed to get back to work. If, as he believes, his son is in heaven with his God, then that is something to be celebrated, and Tony wouldn't be doing his duty as a Christian to remain house-bound, mourning.
"I had to make a statement as a Christian,'' Dungy said. "As tough as it is, and I discussed it with my wife, I've got to be able to move on.''
After Sunday's game, Dungy looked totally beat, but placid. A few of the writers surrounded him after his press briefing and he was Mr. Positive -- about his team, his family, his life. I have no idea how he is doing it. He just is.
"The Lord's giving me an opportunity to show what my life is about,'' he said. "If I can only show my best foot forward in the good times, then I'm not a very good man.''

I have been deeply moved by this account of how a true man of faith pushes forward while in the most dire of circumstances. I find myself wondering…well, truth be told, doubting whether or not I would respond in a similar manner if I were to face the same circumstances.

I want that kind of faith. Just watching Mr. Dungy move forward at this time makes me realize just how much I don’t have figured out, and I’m acutely aware of the fact that I have a long way to go. I find myself compelled to follow Tony Dungy’s example as he follows Christ, (I Corinthians 11:1) trusting that God will reveal himself to those who seek with all their heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

The convert is a missionary immediately

If you read the title, “the convert is a missionary immediately”, then you probably know where I am going already. There is a basic flaw in our approach to evangelism, and it goes like this: once a person comes to Christ they need to leave their friends and ‘worldly’ influences, be built up in their faith for a time, then go back to those loved ones to share Christ with them.

The flaw is that they are leaving the mission field. The best person in the whole world to reach the new believers’ friends is...the new believer. Don’t take my word for it; here are God’s words:

Acts 8:26-40 is the story of the disciple Phillip and the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. In verse 26 we see “an angel of the Lord” (NIV) telling Phillip to go. As Phillip is on the way, Phillip runs into the Eunuch who consequently accepts Christ as his personal savior and is baptized. After Phillip baptized the man, “the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Phillip away.” Notice, there is no community for the eunuch to get plugged into, there is no follow up program implemented, and no direct discipleship. But rather, God puts Phillip in the right place to share with the Eunuch, and then God takes him away. Apparently God thought that having the Holy Spirit living in his soul, and some of the Old Testament was enough for this man.

In Mark 5:1-20 Jesus is visiting the region of the Gerasenes when he runs into a man who is possessed by a demon. In fact, this man was possessed by many demons and was so out of control that he had to live in caves outside of town. Jesus casts out the demons, and sets the man free. Immediately the former demoniac submits his life to Jesus and becomes a follower of Christ when… “As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”(v.18-19) Apparently God (Jesus) thought that having the Holy Spirit was enough for this man to be a missionary to his family and community.

In John 9:1-41 Jesus heals a blind man and once he had received his sight he immediately went home and told his neighbors about what Jesus had done in his life. In John 4:1-42 Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman who immediately goes into town and brings back half of the town to meet Jesus. Acts 16:14-15 tells of Lydia coming to faith in Christ, and the next thing we know her whole household is being baptized.

This blog entry would go on and on if I mentioned every story in the Bible of a convert who was a missionary immediately.

The point is simply that our Biblical model and God-given directive is to: go where Christ is at work, and make disciples who make disciples. Follow-up and Bible study are great, but not necessary for a person to be a missionary to their friends and family immediately.

Is your movement in need of workers? Is the harvest plentiful, but the worker few on your campus? Do you find yourself asking the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field? (Luke 10:2)

The workers that we seek may very well be in the harvest.

“GO! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” (Luke 10:3)

-Ethan Wiekamp