Creative ways to partner - September 2014

Please email me (tammy_bixler@ivstaff.org) if you'd like to help out in any of these ways!

(Note:  What is Expedition?)

1. Expedition snacks:  individual packs of Swedish fish and Goldfish to give out for student participation as we study the book of Jonah.  Get it??  Jonah + big fish?
2. Expedition decor:  send me favorite pictures from a road trip (sunsets, friends, sightseeing, etc.)?  Send them via email (tammy_bixler@ivstaff.org) or mail copies to me (ask me for address).  I'll post them around the room we use at the conference site.
3. Sponsor a Small Group care package:
   
   We now have 11 small group leaders leading 11 small groups this fall.  They could use a lot of encouragement and prayers as they continue to reach their communities on campus and grow as a mini-witnessing community. 
   
   Would you consider sponsoring a care package to send them this fall?  I can definitely give you suggestions and ideas of what to include if you would like help.  You can send it anytime this semester.
   
   Here are the small group leaders and their respective communities:
   
   
   1. Aidin - International students
   2. Amanda - Artists
   3. Doug - Freshmen
   4. Eric - Grad students
   5. Jeremy - Co-op
   6. Jessie - Artists
   7. Lydia - Health Sciences
   8. Mark - Commuter & Faculty
   9. Rachel - Mandarin Speaking
   10. Tim - Outdoors & Adventure
   11. Tin - Fitness

Striking the flint rock.

When I thought about how I'm doing recently in this season of ministry, I thought of a quote from the movie, It's a Wonderful Life:

Clarence:  You sent for me, sir?
Senior Angel:  Yes, Clarence.  A man down on earth needs our help.
Clarence:  Splendid.  Is he sick?
Senior Angel:  No, worse.  He's discouraged.

I'm going to be honest, I think I subconsciously try everything I can to beat around the bush of admitting that I'm discouraged.  That's probably because my temperament likes to lean towards the image of having it all together and being super positive all the time.  It's also probably because I know the truth in my head:  I have a God who is stronger and greater than any obstacles or issues I may face.  How can I be discouraged if our God is for us?  What can ever stop us or stand against, right?  That's how the psalms and songs go.

Also, it's bothersome that my attitude tends to bend with the weather.  I find that it can sometimes be harder to see the exciting things God is up to through the pelting sheets of rain and depressing gray sky.

But there's this one thing that has been coming back to me again and again ever since I spotted it during one of the sessions at Expedition, our InterVarsity Upstate NY Fall Conference.  I was in the Map & Compass Track, where students were equipped with tools and skills to dig deep into God's Word by studying the book of Jonah with the inductive, manuscript study style.  I noticed that even though Jonah went out of his way to flee God and go in the opposite direction of where God wanted to send him, God drew people to Himself.    God worked through Jonah's disobedience to bring the sailors on the ship Jonah was taking to flee the presence of the Lord came to faith in Him.

That's pretty amazing, especially to a young woman like myself who tries so hard to "do the right thing" and go in the "right" direction.  It's a deep, freeing reminder of how God is in the business of drawing people to Himself in His time and His way and that it doesn't rest alone on my own abilities or power.

I'm realizing I need to spend some time reflecting deeply on the vision I have for RIT's campus and its students.  I'm not as excited as I once was because the vision I once had is leaking and getting fuzzy.  I need to practice some self-leadership and do well to uncover and steward the vision God graciously offers me for the sake of the gospel.

If I don't cultivate the vision for myself and for others, how can I expect my student leaders to do the same?

Jessica* joins the family!

"Can you tell me more about Expedition? I'd like to go."

That was one of the many questions Jessica* asked me during our conversation when we first met earlier this semester.  It took a little while for her to make a decision about going after I told her about the InterVarsity Fall Conference, but I was excited to see later on in the following weeks on Facebook that after her Small Group leader asked if she had registered yet, she wrote, "I'm registering right now!"

We were both in the same track called 'Gearing Up,' except I was a small group leader and she was in a different group.  The students in our track listened to speakers who taught us about Lordship and quiet times and being in a relationship with God.  We studied passages together like Luke 15 about how far away we can be from God and how he welcomes us with open arms; or like Luke 5 that challenged us to think about what risks we needed to take and what was holding us back from leaving behind the things we knew in order to follow Jesus; and even Luke 7 that gave new light to what faith in Jesus looked like.

I sat with Jessica during brunch yesterday (the last day of Expedition!) and without any prompting she said, "Tammy, I have to tell you something."  I had no idea what she was going to say, so I kept pressing and after worrying about how she was going to word this, she asked, "Would you be interested in discipling me?"

My eyes must have popped out of my head.  "Well..." I said.  "Does this mean you're a Christian?  Because I can't help guide you in your life of following Jesus if you aren't following Jesus."

She looked at her small group leader, Nathan, who sat on the other side of me.  "We were going to pray together some time today."

"Well," she said, "I didn't know how or what to pray."

So I explained to her the basics of what it meant to follow Jesus and accept Him as your Lord and Savior, while making a couple of connections to the Lordship talk we had heard earlier during the weekend, things like how whenever people encountered the holy and mighty God they didn't get warm and fuzzy feelings but instead fell to the ground in recognizing their sinfulness.  And since she still didn't know what to pray but wanted to, Nathan led us in prayer and Jessica repeated him.

So we prayed together.  And then we cheered and whooped so loud that half the 350 Expedition attendees in the dining room at Expedition cheered and whooped with us.

And even though she was completely nervous and didn't know what to say or how to say it, she was willing to stand before her new brothers and sisters in Christ from the Binghamton chapter and tell them in a simple few sentences how she came to make her decision to follow Christ and allow Him to be the Lord of her life.

It was a beautiful privilege I had to take part in what God was doing.

*Not her real name