Summer Travel Day 67: STINT Briefing Day 1

Ready for the STINTers to arrive!

• At registration today, 392 STINTers walked through the conference doors, ready to be trained! Jesus Film Media had a table, where we gave away about 100 JFM t-shirts, gathered over 100 emails to receive monthly updates over the year and we learned most people have already install the app prior to coming to the conference! This is great because they can follow right along when I give a training to the whole conference later this week! #JesusFilmMediaApp

• Tonight, I met a guy named Ben who came to know the Lord via the film JESUS after it had been delivered in his mailbox from a local church outreach. He is now headed over seas, equipped with the Jesus Film Media app to share the gospel. #Jesuschangelives
  
• There is a STINTer, headed to Greece to do ministry for the year. During her support raising time, she invited referrals (friends of friends) to come with her. They are ALSO here, fully supported, and headed to Greece to do ministry with her! #stepsoffaith #justask

STINTers being led in worship by Page CXVI

Psalm 139

• He knows me
• He knows my thoughts
• He knows my schedule
• He knows me better than I know myself
• He is so dynamic my mind cannot comprehend
• He is everywhere
• His hand guides me
• He is THE Light - nothing can dim Him
• He crafted me intricately in my mothers womb
• He deserves praise for His wonderful works
• He can see all things, even a growing baby in his mother's womb
• He has prepared all my days before me, even before I existed
• His thoughts are more valuable than gold - wisdom!
• His name is misused :(
• He knows my heart and thoughts
• He leads me to an everlasting life

Provision

God provided big this week. Not only is financial support still coming in (praise for that), this week about 10% came in AS WELL AS I finally found a car and bought it- cash. Straight up, the car is just what I wanted: sporty, yet practical; cool color (I think the official name is “Indigo Lights”), sun roof, A/C that works (my old car did not, which made Florida even hotter), an iPod jack, low mileage and a key fob. Those were generally my criteria.

This isn’t to say that God isn’t a provider during “dry spells”. He is the faithful One who knows all my needs before they even exist, and in His timing, and through His ways, somehow ends meet. They may not always look as I would have pictured, or planned for, but His plans are better anyways, right?

And during those down times, He might be teaching me patience, to trust Him, to get on my knees and pray more – and maybe that’s because He desires a deep and daily relationship with me. An effort that I sometimes, too many times, I don’t offer or give my 100% to Him in it.  This is something I think every Christian struggles with – yet God still continues to be gracious and faithful on His side of things. He’s a pretty great Guy to be in a relationship with, if I do say so myself!

During my car search, which started in July… well actually when I moved home from France, and ended up with a temporary Buick (hey, I moved to Florida, “Buick- central” with all the old folks. My brothers now drive it to school and football, which left me car-less for a couple months. My family has been very accommodating and helpful in letting me borrow their cars as needed.)

Soooo… since July, I’ve been praying for a car daily. There were even a few I made offers on. I think God had this car picked out even before I moved to France two years ago. Each time I have walk up to it, unlocked it, I praise God and see my car as a daily reminder of His provision. I am very thankful for it!

"God Save the Queen"

"What does it mean?" We were both puzzled, unsure of the origin of this phrase.

Last October, during my internship with Campus Crusade for Christ in Orlando, I met Meena. She had been interning with the Disney program for several months and still wanting to experience some true American culture. As our initial conversation continued to unfold, so our friendship began.

We baked that apple pie right there, oh yes we did.

We ended up spending the classic, American holiday - Thanksgiving - together. I think Meena would agree, that this was a good "taste" of American traditions.

In the next couple of weeks in December and early January, we continued to hang out, going out to eat at classic American restaurants like Cracker Barrel and the Cheesecake Factory. We had many conversations about our internships, living in different countries, culture and religion. Based on the questions she asked, I knew Meena was definitely searching for the satisfaction only a relationship with God could bring.

Dinner at Cracker Barrel - biscuits and gravy! 

As the end of January approached, so did the end of Meena's internship and ultimately, her time in Orlando. As limited as it was, I was excited and thankful for the time we had spent together. We continued to stay in touch through out the spring and summer months. I was trusting God to continue to work in Meena's life as she had moved home.

WHICH HE DID!!! A couple of days ago, I skyped with Meena and she told me she had become a Christian!!! 

She explained to me that our friend Bryn had described the gospel in a creative way. We each have report cards, full of C's and D's, but Jesus has a report card full of A+'s! Because Jesus loves us so much, He is willing to trade His report card with us, so we can succeed and have a relationship with Him.

This August, she was visiting friends in Orlando. During her visit, she faced some challenges and tough choices. Toward the end of her trip, as she was processing life, her future and her journey thus far, she decided she wanted to trade report cards with Jesus. She realized He was pursuing her and wasn't going to stop.

Praise God for technology!

Since then, "I've been focusing on God, learning to really enjoy Him. My job right now is to become more Christian (Christ-like) everyday" Meena said this afternoon. My jaw dropped a little bit at how God has been transforming Meena in her newfound relationship with Him. Truely awesome!

It was so great to hear more of her testimony/story, listen to her questions and experiences as a new Christian. I asked her if I could write about her and share prayer requests.

Please pray:

• First that Meena would continue to trust in the Spirit and His work in her life.
• For a teachable heart to soak up the Word
• For patience and trusting God to heal and lead

And Praise God for a new sister in Christ!!!

It's here! It's here!!

Praise God!!! The Jesus Film App has now been released for download in the Apple Store, with the Android app soon to follow in the Google Play store.

Please download it, play with it and let me know what you think! Tell your friends, post it to Facebook, Twitter or email your friends.

Know of some missionaries overseas? Share this with them! Think of how this will help them communicate the gospel in the native tongue of the country they are serving in.

I would also love to be in contact with any missionaries you may know of - email me their contact info so I can encourage, inform and share ideas with them. As someone who has lived overseas in a country where I did not know the language very well, I can see so much potential for this ministry tool!

2011 National Leaders Conference Celebration Video

Outreach Update

The morning went so smoothly - thank you for your prayers!

Falling asleep last night was a little difficult with jet leg (6 hours ahead). The timing of the super early outreach didn't really help me get over jet leg (up at 4:30am =10:30 pm). But it was so worth it!

We all arrived to the French town hall (called a prefecture) at 5 am. There was about 20 people already waiting in line. One woman I spoke with (praise God some of my French returned!) said she had been waiting in line since 10 pm the night before!

As we set up the table with hot chocolate (in French: chocolat chaud), people started to approach us to see why we were there. It was kind of encouraging and helped start conversations with others. Then, the police arrived. DUN Dun dunnnnn... (If there is one thing I learned in France last year, really nothing can be done too easily.) However, while confused at our kindness, and triple checking we were NOT selling anything nor with an association, they allowed us to stay till 6:30. They feared for us that as the morning went on, it would get more rowdy and we might not be safe.

As we handed people hot chocolate, we also handed them the goodie bag with treats and a calendar with French and Arabic Bible verses. Out of the 50 bags we handed out, we only saw 1 in the trash!

Many of the STINTers had great conversations. My old roommate Chelsea and her teammate Kelsey, talked to this middle eastern woman who indicated an interest in spiritual things. One of the guys on the STINT team talked to an Algerian man and French man almost the whole time. The French man thought the calendar was Muslim because some of it was in Arabic. Jeremy suggest the Algerian translate the Arabic to French for the French man. He watch the North African share a Bible verse with a European!

When 6:30 came around, we knew we needed to honor the police men's request and head home. As we left, we sort of announced "Be encouraged! You can do it!" It was also apparent there seemed to be some uniting or bonding amongst people in the groups as they realize they are sort of in it together.

As we debrief this morning, the team felt accomplished and shared how they saw God honored their planning. I saw and heard the encouragement this outreach gave them and I was excited to be apart of this event with them.

Christmas Conference 2011

Over my time at home, I went to the Indy Christmas Conference for the Great Lakes region. Over 2,000 students came to this conference to be filled, challenged, learn how to evangelize and build community.

"Using your major in ministry!"

My purpose of attending this conference was to meet with students, specifically seniors, to share with them the opportunities within the administrative side of ministry. Including, but not limited to: video production, finance, web publishing, conference planning, human resources, accounting, editing, photography, information technology and more...

Front of the Ops postcard - I did feel a little silly handing these out!

Back of postcard.

From a summer internship - called Summer Project, to a year internship regionally or internationally - STINT or Year One, or a long term commitment of joining staff. It was cool to see their facial expressions change as they learned more about these opportunities through our time together. I was able to share my experiences of living in France and working internationally and now working at Cru headquarters.

Some of the students we met with. All of these students pictured, indicated an interest in doing administration in ministry!

My teammate Julie, and I, met with over 40 students on a personal level, answering questions, getting contact information for all of them who were interested in some type of administrative position in ministry.

At the end of the conference, the conference gathered results from all the participants: 278 students committed one year to some sort of ministry. How cool is that!? Please be praying for them as they continue their education and pursue whatever God has in store for them.

The last night of the conference. The white cards hung on the string are commitments from students who are planning on giving a year of their life to ministry!