October 25th thoughts

You know, Sundays are one of my favorite days of the week nowadays.  In the morning I teach a college Sunday school class at North Oak (we also have two older congregation members in attendance and would love to have more).  It’s exciting to see each person (most of whom are in one of the Unite small groups) and catch up with them.  I really enjoy the opportunity to come together in the Spirit to discuss God things.  I particularly love the opportunity to pray for each other at the end of the class.

Afterwards we have a service and usually end up eating lunch together, which is another good time to catch up and share life together.  Sometimes I’ll get a brief nap or reprieve in, and then one of the small groups meets…

Those are really neat right now—the Spirit is moving in them and people are opening up to study God together, experience God together, and be in community in the Spirit.  Each different time is different, but I enjoy them all…

Afterwards there’s usually another short break and then I haul people out to the North Oak college suppers (they do free home-cooked meals for college age students).  That lets me interact with a whole different crew, and often chat with some international friends…

Next is a small group I’m part of with some really cool college students.  It’s just a blessing to be there and experience fellowship in the Spirit with, again, a completely different group of people.  Often I’ll stay after to chat with a few of the guys afterwards, and sometimes I won’t get home until midnight or 1 a.m.

The days are full, but have so many opportunities to listen to God and love others…  I really do enjoy Sundays…  :)

October 25 Update

First, I'll start off with an update that I posted to Unite's blog...

The small groups are going very well (we currently have four meeting—two in the Union, one in Semolinos, and one in Coffee Rules).  We’ve already has several people come up and chat with us in different groups, and we’ve been able to pray for them.  We’re also finished with the two starter studies we use and have completed week one of ‘Firm Foundations’ from New Tribes.  I’m excited to see how this study progresses over the semester.

Possibly more exciting, we have seen several prayers for individuals within the small groups answered.  Half of our small group time (45min) is devoted to study, and the other half is devoted to prayer and encouragement, with time to share what God’s been teaching us individually and/or anything we feel led to share with the group.  During this time we’ve had several important opportunities to pray for each other, and I’m excited to see God answer.  One individual was freed from some strong temptations to turn back to nicotine, another from illness/exhaustion, and several other prayers have been directly answered.

We have also received a starting $900 towards coffeehouse renovations/operations.  We need two more final bids to come in, but it looks like the whole phase one part of the project will run around $6,000 (for an industrial coffee machine, plumbing, cabinetry with a sink, and taking out some windows).  That’s an exciting beginning and another answer to prayer.

Game nights have continued to go well—many of the same people are coming back, and we’ve had between twenty and thirty-some attend most nights.  International-themed game nights are much smaller, but some important connections have recently been made that may help those increase.  Thank you sincerely for your continued prayers!

October 6 Very Brief Update

I will give you a more in-depth update soon, but in brief...
Thank you so much for your prayers!  The [alt] concert, game night, and [alt]ernative ride service went extremely well.  We had a good turn out (maybe 400 through the concert and 60-80 at the game night) and a lot of fun.  Two small groups are off to a good start and at least two more will begin this week; please also keep them in your prayers!

Also, I will have a meeting to discuss my status as a missionary and Unite and its mission on Thursday, October 7th at 7:00 p.m. at North Oak Community Church (3000 Oak Street, Hays, KS  67601)  in the Southernmost classroom.  There will be prayer and a time for questions and answers.  Please feel free to come by!