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

Sharing my "God Story"

Thursday night, I was invited to share my “God Story” at GVSU Cru. It’s a time to share about how God has impacted and shown up in my life.

I took a picture from the stage at GVSU.

It worked out perfectly, because I was already on the West side of the state to babysit a few days for a fun family I met in college. Note: Props to all moms who manage multiple schedules, clean the house, feed the family, drive children to and from places, all while having her own life. Respect. It takes a lot of coordination, selflessness and patience.

As I prepared for my talk, I obviously spent time looking back on the past, on the journey God has taken me on thus far. Going to Grand Valley. Studying marketing. Getting involved with Cru. Attending various Cru conferences. Going on STINT and moving to France. Interning in Orlando with YearOne.

I enjoyed looking back on all these “life events”, which I now see how they all connected. Each fit, perfect for the story God has just for me. It was also encouraging for me, as I acknowledged God’s fingerprints all over these life experiences, reminding myself that I can trust Him. He’s proved Himself over and over.

It frustrated me how many times I doubt Him and His goodness or if He will come through. And then I realized something. Something so elementary to a modern day Christian believer; Its in those moments of doubt and worry, that I am living out of the flesh. Our of my own ability. Out of my own knowledge (limited as it is).

Clearly, if I solely lived out of my own desires and plans, I doubt I would be in ministry. I credit and attribute that to the Spirit’s working in my life. For this season of life, He has me here. Currently raising support, but eventually to be working with the JESUS Film Project, equipping missionaries with digital tools to reach the nations for Christ! With the eternal perspective in mind, that’s pretty rewarding. He obviously knows what He’s doing, and in my time of reflection, I found myself realizing I need to be thankful for that more and more. And also to absorb the peace that comes from knowing He’s got it all figured out.

Hopefully not lost in translation

It's about 6:45 p.m. here at the conference. Glad to report our presentations went well - we hope!

First, we showed this clip (Once our digital platform is launched, we will be able to embed video clips like this. Special thanks to JP Erickson for help with subtitles.): http://bcove.me/0v5ejcs5

First. I talked about the easiness of streaming the Jesus Film from our website. It is currently available in over 1,150 languages! And once the digital platform is finished, people from across the world will be able to download the full length film! We are hoping to create partnerships with different communication centers across this part of the world, as well as globally with others. I then talked about embedding videos to blogs, emails and social media sites from Jesus Film Media. Embedding these videos from our secure digital platform will allow for solid follow up, real statistics and create more of a unified optimization of these videos in ministry.

Nifer then talked about the power of social media and how we can utilize our presence on the various forms: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, blogs. She also shared with them about the exciting future plans we have once our digital platform is complete.  Partnering with Jesus Film Media will allow us to track views, check demographics and see what parts of films are most viewed. We can also share the successful strategies and plans with other communication centers across the world.

After our presentation people were able to have some good discussions among their different communication teams: Radio, Television, Communication, Internet and Literature. We walked around answering questions as asked.

During the afternoon, we ate lunch with two girls from Central Asia. They shared a story about when they used a clip from Magdalena, during a conversation with students they met, both of those girls came to Christ! It was great to hear about their ministry on campus. They also tried teaching us Russian - which is incredibly hard!

It has been a great time here, reconnecting with national staff. Early tomorrow morning (4 a.m. here)/tonight (10 p.m. Florida) I will start my journey back to Orlando. Prayers for connections, safety and sleep would be greatly appreciated.

Distance Coaching Conference

This past month, I was assigned to be the conference administrator for a group of about 40. I worked with the conference speaker/host on the pre-conference tasks like creating the registration website, booking the hotel rooms and organizing meals. I liked doing this because I feel it got my "feet wet" to real conference planning.

These leaders came to Cru head quarters for Distance Coaching Training. Via Skype, email and over the phone, these leaders coach students and volunteers to lead movements of evangelism and discipleship on their campuses. Since these campuses don’t have full time staff, they depend on the leadership of students and volunteers. The coaching they receive is very important for impacting the lives of students involved in these new and growing ministries!

Something my supervisor has said before, '...the work we do in conference and event planning, sends missionaries, who build movements and leaders that fulfill the great commission.' Working on this conference has helped me see that.

Wait, where did February go?

As I stare at my Macbook screen, the calendar tells me it is March 7th. Life these past three months has been a blurrrr.

After my sisters visited for Christmas, I visited the grand city of ROME for a weekend with some friends from home. Definitely a city to visit. We went to all the landmarks most tourists see.

The Colosseum

It hit me, though, walking around, in and up into the Colosseum, that this is the last thing many brothers and sisters saw before seeing the Lord. Frightened, tired, ready, scared, beaten, bruised, I am sure they were ready to be done enduring these hardships.

Inside the Colosseum

It made me think of those in closed countries whose experience more modern persecution - they need our prayers!

Reading Romans in Rome outside of the Colosseum

Toward the end of January, I went to Cairo, Egypt with my boss for an operations audit. It was great to meet other staff in our company, gain a vision for what we are doing through operations on a country level and see another historical city! It was a very productive and eye-opening trip. I also rode a camel!

Riding a camel in Giza, Egypt

Praise God our trip ended 2 days before the riots and uproar began! I think God is moving despite these crises. Please be praying for the opportunities that do arise for our team there.

One week later, my team and I were headed to Nerja, Spain for the STINT 'Mid-Year' conference. It was a refreshing time to get out of the daily grind. We reflected on the first half of the year, and regrouped for the coming months. It was awesome to spend time with other Americans our age who are experiencing some of the same things.

My friend Ted, who is teaching english in Spain, came to visit for one day!

Me and my roommates at the 'Balcony of Europe' in Spain. Mountains and beaches = awesomeness.

Straight from Spain, we flew to Turkey for another conference, one we were helping plan and host. It was a little adjustment switching from "attendee" to "host"! It was great to meet nationals in our company, and through out the conference, watch them plan and strategize for the coming year! My main job was the historian of the conference. I took many pictures and videos, which, unfortunately, I can't post due to security.

This is a picture of jewelry and lamps in Istanbul, Turkey. Everything is so colorful!

Working this conference opened my eyes to the possibility of working Conference and Events. It is something I have thought of doing before[In high school, I wanted to be a Wedding Planner!], but this was the first real hands on experience I've had in this area. Maybe this is the type of work God is leading me toward for next year?

As most of you know, the deadline for apply to reSTINT was March 1st. However, I was still not 100% sure where God was leading me [though, I had a good idea.] Since then, I have applied and am waiting to hear back whether I am excepted or not. Only the Lord knows!

I am going to try to utilized this blog more than I have [sorry for that!] so I hope that you [whoever you are] continue to read and I promise to keep more daily events posted! Some friends visited last week [shout out to Katelyn Roskamp and Kristna Pantoja].

Katelyn, Kristina and me at the Sacré-Cœur Basilica

They are both keeping their blogs more up to date as they study abroad in Sevilla, Spain. Kate shared her idea of pulling stories and quotes from her blog posts, to use when she scrapbooks! Smart!

Peace and blessings...