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| Having dinner with the Netherlands STINT team at one of their favorite restaurants in Tilburg. |
Last
week, I was privileged to join the first Netherlands STINT team in their campus
ministry. They welcomed me with laughter and open arms! During my stay with
them, I toured the campus, met the Dutch staff they work with as well as many
Dutch friends they have made in the 3 months they have lived in Tilburg.
Thursday morning, I
joined their staff team meeting and cast vision of time we would later go on
campus and initiate conversations with students. (Cru calls this
"sharing" or in verb form "to go sharing".) They were all
excited to get trained in using a new resource for campus ministry.
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| After the JFM training, everyone chose a few follow up questions before going out to "share". |
I'll admit, I was a little nervous to go sharing again - it had been about 3
years since I went sharing back in my undergrad days at GVSU! But God
graciously led Eric, Alyson and me to several conversations, in various degrees
of Spirituality. Besides the valuable perspective I gained from this experience
for JFM, it seemed to "stir the pot" of spiritual awareness among the
Dutch students. Not every conversation led to a full explanation of Gospel, but
we left them thinking more about God than they had the hour before we met.
I am excited to take what I have learned from this campus experience, and help
refine the process - developing better follow up questions and possibly going
sharing at UCF - the local campus near my apartment in Orlando. In fact, this
whole experience warmed my heart to the idea of campus ministry. Who knows
what's next! :)
Yesterday, I received an email from Shelby, one of the Netherlands STINTers.
Here is what she had to say:
"I had a followup today with a student we met using La Liberté and in our conversation she brought up
how watching the film brought her to think about God again for the first time
since she was a little kid. She told me about how far removed religion and
spirituality are in the culture here, but how grateful she was that we came and
talked with her and gave her the chance to start thinking through these
things.
Thanks to the film, I was able to go through the gospel with
her today and she wants to meet regularly to learn more about Christianity and
who God really is!"
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