A new generation.

Psalm 145 has been following me around for the last 5 months or so, ever since I served in the Small Group Leaders' Track at Basileia this past May.  The repetition isn't anything to groan about, though -there is lots of good stuff to meditate upon that's readily applicable to ministry on campus, especially as we try to meet as many new RIT students as possible on campus.  Here are some themes I've noticed from this psalm:

There's a challenge to me personally.  "I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever..." --Psalm 145:1

The Psalm doesn't start with David telling God what He should do, or telling the people what they should do.  It starts (and ends!) with David's personal ownership, commitment, and responsibility to give praise to God.  As a leader, before I give out direction or instruction, I must examine the extent of my own commitment and responsibility to praise God for who He is.   

There's a challenge to my students.  "One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts..." --Psalm 145:4

If we look around at this generation of college students, the next generation of leaders, business men and women, researchers, marketers, scientists, technologists, etc., is it true that this generation is passing on and declaring what God has done?  Is this something my students long for and work towards?  If not, then why not?

There's a challenge to respond out of God's character.  "The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love..." --Psalm 145:8

All throughout this psalm is declaration after declaration of who God is and what His character is like.  Everything the author writes is in the context of God's grace, mercy, goodness, greatness, faithfulness, etc.  We praise Him because of His greatness and His great works.  We invest in the next generation because of God's mightiness.  What an encouragement!  My students and I can praise His name not because of what we've done or left undone, but because of what God has done and who He is.

May God continue to be faithful despite our lack of faith.  May we continue to declare His graciousness even in the midst of craziness of this season of ministry.  Amen.

Tree rings.

Being an Asian American woman on staff shapes my leadership and interactions with students on campus.  And as an Asian American on staff with InterVarsity, I have the unique opportunity to be a part of the Asian American Ministries (AAM) - a segment of InterVarsity's ministry and organization that seeks to reach more Asian American students with the gospel and empower them to become industry leaders and culture-shapers for the kingdom.  

Every 3 years, AAM hosts a conference for staff who are Asian American and/or serve Asian American chapters or chapters that are predominantly Asian American students.  I've only been to one other AAM staff conference, but I've learned that this conference holds value for these AAM staff in many different ways.   For some, it's a helpful context to gain vision and tools for reaching Asian American students.  For others, it's a helpful just to be among a community - a family - of people who understand your culture, your work, and how those tend to intersect.  And for others, it does both.

For me, I find the conference to be a helpful space and community to help me further explore my ethnic identity with Jesus and how this ethnic identity affects my staff work and my life in general.  I've found that there a lot to learn from the ways I do connect and the ways I don't connect with my fellow colleagues, but it is very much like family - you many not know each other well, you may not connect over everything, but we care about each other and challenge each other to grow.

This year's theme was called, "Flourish," to help us as staff expand our reach and extend our influence.  There are many things I could share from this conference, but if I could only choose one, it is this:  an invitation I sensed from the Lord was to consider how I could reach and empower the Asian American students all over the upstate part of NY to flourish.  I am currently the only Asian American woman InterVarsity staff in upstate NY, and while I don't feel like I have a ton of experience, wisdom, or influence right now, I firmly believe that just being on staff can be a huge beginning factor.  God can use my five loaves and two fish to multiply His work.  

A photo posted by Tammy B. (@tammyoncampus) on Mar 4, 2016 at 2:22pm PST

Now, as for what this would all look like, I have no idea.  But the Lord is with me, and I am confident in Him.

Planning unplanned things

One of my top priorities as InterVarsity staff is to help students meet Jesus.

The problem is, I don't always know how to to do that.  I myself am not Jesus, and I don't always do a great job of knowing what Jesus wants to say to a student in any given moment to be able to help facilitate that.

Or, you know, I'm a sinful person and my own sin can get in the way of recognizing God's invitations.

It can be tempting to get caught up in the training, and coaching, and leading and forget that they're all for the purpose of creating space for students to meet Jesus.

Students, too, can have a hard time spending time with Jesus or recognizing God's presence throughout their day.  It's easy to procrastinate, put too much on their plates, and then have a hard time managing all of the things, thinking that they're all more urgent than spending quality time with Jesus.

This past week, the Rochester Area InterVarsity Staff came together to create space for students to meet with Jesus.  We invited all of our students from our chapters to come to Geneseo to spend a couple of hours in the middle of their day on Saturday for a self-led retreat.  We set up a few stations centered around nine spiritual temperaments and provided them an inventory to help students recognize ways they may best engage with God, and have space to try a new way of engaging with God.  We also allocated a sanctuary with beautiful stained glass as a room for complete silence.  We gave them a retreat guide, but told them that they didn't have to use it.  Students brought their own lunch, and they had the option of eating their lunch in silence as a way of continuing to engage with God.

I didn't really know what to expect.  For me, it was freeing to be able to create a space that students could lead themselves through.  It was freeing to not have to teach something, or lead something, or plan exhaustive details.  I myself got to spend some quality time in silence with the Lord.  For students, it was freeing to dedicate some quality time to meet with the Lord in silence, while also doing it in community.

Praise the Lord for the way He meets us when we create space in our lives to hear from Him!