taking another look.

Our team has been working this year through a training program from Campus for Christ called Ministry Prep 1010. We're just wrapping up the section on evangelism and for me it's in a timely fashion as our first week back at UTP was this week and we're full time at the national campus as of Monday. Evangelism and discipleship are the two pillars of our ministry and even though I wouldn't say that I'm a gifted evanglist by any means I've learned to love sharing my faith. There are tonnes of different viewpoints and opinions on evangelism but as we talked this morning for me it came to the point that simply going our and sharing my faith is effective. It may not be the most culturally acceptable thing to do but it works. As I was reading through an article on evangelism I found the passage below really encouraging and challenging in mutliple ways.

"Christ called His followers to a radical life, which contradicted the expectations and cultural boundaries. One of these expectations was to refrain from associating with certain "undesirable" types of people on the basis of their appearance. Although Christ refuted this practice with His own lifestyle, many today would justify and call for this behavior as part of "avoiding the appearance of evil." Many cultural patterns are counter-productive and actually work against the evangelistic enterprise- not to mention the truth of the gospel. I'll sum it up to say that the greatest barriers to successful evangelism are not theological; they are cultural.

We must admit that first, it is impossible to act in such a way that we will be universally understood and accepted. -And second, as we move through life, it is inevitable that we will find ourselves on the wrong side of some man-made fences. Does 1 Thess. 5:22 say that we should never do anything that might look like sin to someone else? Did Jesus follow this principle? Christ avoided evil of every kind, yet He did not always avoid the "appearance of evil." He wanted to please his father. Christ lived in the tensions and He calls us to do the same.

Some would measure the maturity of a Christian as one who has most successfully separated them from the secular world where they live. But if we are to follow Christ's example, the mark of true maturity is not withdrawal, its penetration."

I think that there's always the struggle for us to be in the world but not of it. But be encouraged. The power of the gospel never changes and is so not dependant on us. We just need to be where God is calling us to be and be faithful in the precious time that he gives us here to live our lives out in this world. I love the verse in 1 Peter 2:12; "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." We live among the world and in front of the world. But that doesn't mean we need to put on a show, but my prayer is that more and more we would simply be Gods ambassador's here and demonstrate His love over and above anything else.

exciting.

Monday morning the team was at UTP to begin the craziness of frosh activities. We set an info table up with some balloons and tuneage and simply talked with students all morning and into the early afternoon. It was great to reconnect with the students there that I`ve worked with on the summer project last year. I ran into two girls our project team had seen come to Christ and they told me that this year they had more time and wanted to get involved in Vida Estudiantil all over again. A group of 3 first year students walked up to me and asked how they could get involved in a bible study and yesterday a student approached the table and said that this was an answer to his prayers. He had been praying for a Christian group so he could connect in with Christian community and continue to remain rooted in his faith. And there we were! As more and more students approached the table, we had both the opportunity to share the gospel but also to simply cast the vision of sharing the gospel with the students at UTP and seeing students come to Christ and then grow in their faith. I believe that God has great plans in store for this university and as we begin to plant seeds I believe with all my heart that even years down the road the our actions now will continue to impact eternity.

"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Matthew 9:35-38

Yesterday we had our weekly staff meeting with a couple of surprise guests. Marquis, a student was there from Santiago as well as another gentleman named Edgar. Marquis shared with us first and told of his experience with Vida Estudiantil and how he came to make the decision to accept the challenge to a one year STEP (a one year internship) working with Vida Estudiantil. This is huge!!! Marquis came to know Christ through Vida Estudiantil and now two years later he's taking the step of coming on staff for one year. Edgar shared his testimony next and how God has brought his through huge times of brokeness and despair but also restoration as his family traveled to Panama with everything they owned in 12 suitcases. But at the end of his story Edgar simply said, "I want to serve God 100%." And now Edgar's praying about coming on staff with Leader Impact group here in Panama. Lionzo (our national director) then shared about another lady named Patricia who has come from Colombia and is praying about working with Cruzada.

As we heard story after story of the people that are coming to fill some much needed positions I was simply blown away. God is bringing people from some of the least expected places to come and work in His harvest here in Panama. As I think about leaving Panama in July part of me's afraid for the team to leave because I see such a need for laborer's here. But then I hear of person after person committing to serving God wholeheartedly and again I realize that it's not about me at all. God has His perfect will that He's going to work out here in Panama and at home in Canada. My part in that is to follow where He takes me. Because He's calling me where I need to be and calling others to see the Great Commission fulfilled here in Panama.

perseverance

"So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart."
Nehemiah 4:6

This morning we had a meeting with our campus staff team. Secundina, our national campus director started the meeting by talking a bit about the book of Nehemiah and the story of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. How Nehemiah and the people of Israel overcame intense opposition and rebuilt the wall. Secundina said this morning as she looks at this story she sees a common theme, and that is one of perseverance. This is a story that´s come up many times throughout the last year and half I´ve been on stint. Secundina asked us about our perceptions on the movement and how its changed and how it hasn´t over the last years. There´s things that have changed for the good and things that we as a staff team still need to improve on. But I think that Secundina was onto something this morning when she talked about perseverance. We´re coming up to the busiest time of our Stint year, as classes begin again on the national campus and at UTP. But at the same time we´re halfway through stint and I think the tendency could be to coast through the rest of the year. But it´s now that we need to push on more than ever. Please pray for our team over the next months. Pray for strength and that we would persevere onto the end!

:D

So... March is here! I think that's insane that time is flying so fast. And speaking of flying our team is officially booked to come back to Canada in July... which is also craziness!

But this week was really encouraging for me. I hadn't been on campus in two weeks because of heading out of town for Mike and Dorrie's visit and then last week heading to the jungle for Carnivales. And so, it was great to be back!!! One of the things that I love about campus ministry is that when we do get back on campus it feels like home. We had a great week of getting back into the swing of things, whether with staff meetings or sharing! Steve and I had another opportunity to meet up with Juliana and Jennifer on the Interamericana campus. We did the third follow-up lesson and just had some really good conversation on who the Holy Spirit is and what His role is in our lives. At the same time Juan and Karina met two students who both prayed to receive Christ and then even came for follow-up the next day! It's been super encouraging to see students enter into a new relationship with Christ but then also to come back and meet up, eager to learn more about what this new relationship means! There's good things happening all the way around! Please keep these new students in your prayers over the next weeks!