A Week at Youth Camp

Each summer, the Louisiana District Youth Department hosts 3 week-long camps for teens in Woodworth, LA. Each week, Chi Alpha Louisiana sends a representative or two to hang out with the teenagers, get to know the youth leaders, and to get the word out about Chi Alpha for those juniors and seniors looking at making the transition into college.

Last week, Jen and I took our turn for the second year in a row. It can be quite an exhausting week with hundreds of teens! (Keep the District Youth Director, Allen Chapin, and his wife, Angela, in prayer this week as they recover from 3 straight weeks of it!) However, we had a great time playing wacky games, and cheering on the teens, just getting to know some great young people, praying with them during impactful services, and connecting with some amazing youth leaders, ministers, and volunteers.

Our week was quite successful along the lines of connecting with young people headed toward college. I don't know if we've ever met so many in one week, before, and I think several of them really had their interest piqued by the idea of Chi Alpha as they head toward the college campus.

What was icing on the cake for us was that we met students planning to attend university in New Orleans! This is usually quite rare, as the private schools in New Orleans are so expensive and selective, and usually only locals attend UNO, and not many teens from the New Orleans area make it to camp each year.

This year was different, though, and we met an incoming UNO freshman while reconnecting with a returning UNO student, both of whom are quite interested in connecting with the Chi Alpha community there. Also, we met two high schoolers (a junior and a senior) who plan to attend Tulane of all places!

That was exciting and fun for us. Even more than that was the honor of witnessing the Holy Spirit do some powerful work in the lives of teenagers.

Please pray with us as hundreds of thousands of Christian teenagers take the plunge into university life this fall for the first time. This is often a difficult transition for students in their life, and especially in their faith.

Dr. Francis Collins Confirmed for January 22nd 2009

A few weeks ago, I introduced you to the Veritas Forum, and our quest to establish Veritas at Tulane with the hope of kicking off our first go 'round with Dr. Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project and author of The Language of God.

Yesterday, I heard the exciting news that Dr. Collins has agreed to come to Tulane with the Veritas Forum, and has confirmed the date of Thursday, Jan 22nd 2009! Praise God!

There is still lots of work to do in planning, publicizing, PRAYING, and fund raising. If you would like to give to support the Veritas Forum at Tulane, please drop me a line.

We believe this will be a diving appointment for students and faculty: for those struggling with their faith in Christ in an antagonistically secular academic environment to be encouraged in the reasonableness of faith, and for those unsure or even opposed to faith in Christ based on intellectual reasons to have an opportunity to ask honest questions and receive honest answers.

May/June 08 Newsletter

Here's our update: click on the images to zoom in 

[click here for a print quality download]

Upcoming Developments

Welcome back, friends. Many of you got your first look at www.nolaxa.com last week, as I accidentally pointed you there with my newsletter email. Feel free to check that site on a regular basis if you like, or just check the headlines listed to the right. That'll help all you praying types to know how you might pray more specifically - thanks!

Some of you, then, already know that Chi Alpha in New Orleans has been chosen as the US Missions focus for The World Missions Summit next winter. This means there will be a targeted call for finances on a large scale, but more than that, a call for laborers - students to "give a year and pray about a lifetime" of service in the Great Commission with us here! Wow!

I'll keep you updated as that develops.

Also, we have a Campus Missionary in Training (CMiT) coming our way for next school year! We are excited to be a part of the Diversity Project internship, training the next generation of campus missionaries.

by the way, I'm getting ordained on Monday in Houma, LA at the Louisiana District Council. Some folks think that's a big deal, so I thought I'd let y'all know.

Meeting the Superintendent and A whole lot more

Wow, March has been a whirlwind of activity so far, and it continues tomorrow morning, as we take off with 6 students to our nation's capital where we will visit Georgetown Chi Alpha, and then partner with American U Chi Alpha for campus outreach. Please keep us, and our team in prayer.

Last week, we helped host a team from American U Chi Alpha during their spring break. They spent a day doing outreach with us at Tulane, and half a day with us at UNO. It was fun, and an exciting, bold move for our students, as we pushed past some fears and d

iscomforts to engage people in discussions about faith, spirituality, religion, and Jesus. The AU team spent the rest of their stay in New Orleans doing rebuilding work in the city with HisHands2Go, a ministry out of our church.

Speaking of our church, here are some pictures from our Palm Sunday weekend: Jen participated in Saturday's clean-up day, and then their are pictures from Sunday's service.

Also, there are some pictures of us with Rev. Doug Fulenwider, who is the Superintendent of the  Louisiana District of the Assemblies of God, and with Dr. George Wood, Superintendent of the General (national) Council of the Assemblies of God. It was fun to meet them, and share with them a little of what God is doing at St. Luke Assembly of God, and in Chi Alpha New Orleans.

recovery from sickness

Well, I meant to get on here a while ago, and chat a bit about my foray into Lent, but I found myself with a nasty fever/flu last weekend that put me out of commission for a 3 days, and slowed me down for another couple. All the catching up and recuperating have kept me busy elsewhere.

I'm feeling just about 100% now, which is very exciting. I'm grateful for all of you out there who pray for Jen and I; Jen has been spared this nasty thing. Thanks be to God!

Just a quick encouragement regarding prayer, in general: we serve a God who responds to the cries of His people! You're probably familiar with the idea of God as the "Unmoved Mover", which is a nifty philosophical idea from Plato and friends. The unmoved mover is not the God revealed to us in Scripture: the God who heard the cries of Israel and delivered them for Egypt, who relented in His anger against that same Israel at the intercessions of His servant Moses, who rescued Hezekiah from his deathbed and granted him 15 extra years of life after Hezekiah prayed and cried to Him after Isaiah's prophecy that the sickness would end in death (2 King 20).

Our God is one who wants to hear His people pray, not because it makes Him feel important, and helps us remember Him, but because He has chosen to act in the Earth through humanity from the beginning. When you pray, God moves. When you cry out like the psalmists, God is moved and responds.

Jesus told us to pray anything in his name, and it would be done for us. Let's shake loose of all our elegant theological reasons why we should not expect God to actually give us what we pray for, and just take Jesus at his word.

Amen!

~newsletter is in the making

Spring Plans = Money

As we move into the heart of the Spring Semester, we have some exciting events in the works.

1) Next weekend (8-11 Feb) we're bringing in a friend of Chi Alpha, Philip Babineaux (myspace, purevolume) to do some leadership in worship for our community, as well as conduct some teaching and training for our musicians. Philip is a gifted, Spirit-empowered musician and worship leader.

2) Student Leadership class starts on the 10th of Feb, and will run 90min each Sunday for four weeks. We're looking for some great students to step into their leadership potential on campus, and beyond. This will culminate with the Louisiana Leadership Summit in early March.

3) Spring Break in March is our outreach trip to D.C. The end of this week is our deadline for applications. It looks like we have reached our minimum number to make the trip a 'go', so I'm excited. I'm still praying for 2 of 3 more students to join us.

4) One of my favorite Chi Alpha guys, and hilarious yet powerful public speakers, Curt Harlow, will likely be coming to New Orleans around April Fool's Day. It's not 100% finalized, yet, but just about. Curt is a gifted communicator, and does great stand-up comedy. We're looking to employ him in drawing in some students to encounter Chi Alpha, maybe for the first time, and to hear the Good News about Jesus.

Please keep all of this in prayer.

Also, please pray over the financial needs of Chi Alpha. Our ministry account is beginning to run low, and we have some large expenses coming up with some of these events. Please pray that God's provision will come through, and whether or not God might be calling on you to be a part of that.

If you would like more details on specific costs, and so on, please feel free to email me or call me 504.708.2339

You can give via PayPal

or send a check to Chi Alpha at 211 Cherokee St, New Orleans, LA 70118

prayer for Spring Break

Hey there friends, Jen and I would like to ask for some specific prayer.

We are planning a trip to American University and the Washington D.C. metro Chi Alpha to engage in some on-campus faith sharing and more. AU Chi Alpha is sending a team down here to share their time between rebuilding New Orleans and on-campus engagement the week before. It works out nicely that their spring break is the 2nd week of March, while ours (Tulane, Loyola, and UNO!) is the 3rd week of March.

Will you pray that the details work out, and work out cheaply?
Will you PRAY that we are able to clearly communicate the vision of this trip to students, and that they will respond to this amazing opportunity?

Thanks a bundle.

A Time to Pray and a time to Plan

Jen and I will be taking some time this weekend to get away and just pray. As we process this semester that is ending, and look towards the spring, we want to give God space to shape and direct our future plans and directions.

We will thank God for the great things He has done, and pray for the students He has given us. We will also take big chunks of time to just listen, hoping for the freedom to let go of our plans and ideas so that the Holy Spirit can show us what steps to take next. We don't want Chi Alpha to become a stagnant set of meetings and programs, but we also don't want to change things just for the sake of change. Only God can get us outside of our limited perspectives, and truly lead us.

Then, next week, we will spend big chunks of time working through the schedule for next semester, and working with the students to find the right fit for them to exercise and grow in their gifts. It will be exciting, but potentially difficult.

I type all of this so that you can remember us in prayer as we seek God's plan for Chi Alpha New Orleans.

In the meantime, please remember the Tulane and Loyola students as they are in crunch time - finals start on Monday. UNO students finish tomorrow.

The Capital

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Jen and I paid a visit to New England. My best friend from college, Dan Johnson, got married last Saturday. It was great!
Dan is also a Chi Alpha missionary. He is pioneering a new group at the University of Massachusetts.

Instead of coming straight home, we stopped off in Washington, DC for a little Chi Alpha reconnaissance. We hope to bring a team of students up to the Capital to partner with Chi Alpha at American University, as well as Georgetown, and maybe 1 or 2 others. While we were up there we connected with staff from AU and GU, and looked into how a team of New Orleans students might be of service over spring break. Also, American XA is planning to send a team our way on their spring break the week directly preceding ours, so we got to chat about that, too. (This ought to be a great exchange between our campused this March.)

Finally, we were able to pick the brain of Chi Alpha guru, Harv Herman and his wife Sally, regarding campus ministry in general, and the development of a city-wide team.

We had fun, and we learned a lot.

Please pray that our students grasp the vision for this spring break trip.

November Newsletter

click on the image to see it full-size

Recap

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us this week!
Monday night turned out quite well.

At 6:30pm we had a Albanian style dinner with missionary Mark Orfila with some of our Chi Alpha group. Mark shared some stories from his time on the field, and we prayed for him and his family. more pictures

At 8:00pm we welcomed the Tulane community to our counterpoint to Ann Coulter. Typical to Tulane, the response was small. However, Mark's talk, and the subsequent Q & A time was definitely beneficial to our students, and the handful of guests.

The Good News about Jesus was shared, and Mark presented a coherent Christian response to religious hatred, and the trend of tolerance. I hope we can build on this, as our students gain boldness to speak up for the love and truth of God, and as we search out creative ways to share the Good News to wider audiences.

Also, last night I was a part of a panel discussion hosted by the GLBT Caucus of the Tulane College Democrats. I'm not sure why they chose to invite Jen and/or I to represent the Christian Perspective on homesexuality and gay rights in America, but I, with a bit of fear and trembling, accepted the invitation. All in all, the discussion went pretty well. Two of the other panelists (a Reformed Jewish rabbi, and a young Philosophy & Ethics professor) were not particularly happy with my answers to questions about the morality of homosexual behavior, but otherwise the students asked me several questions, and gave my dissenting opinion a fair hearing. I only hope my demeanor, and the bits of God's Truth I was able to share were a small glimmer of light.

Finally, our last monthly Gathering of the Fall semester is next week. Please continue to pray for us and our students!

Ann Coulter Visits Tulane, and Chi Alpha Responds

Follow the News regarding ultra-conservative political pundit, Ann Coulter's recent visit (this past Monday, the 22nd) to Tulane:

Tulane Hullabaloo 12 Oct 07

Tulane Hullabaloo 19 Oct 07

Letter to Hullabaloo Editor 19 Oct 07 #1

Letter to Hullabaloo Editor 19 Oct 07 #2

Tulane New Wave 24 Oct 07

I was present at the event with some of Tulane's Student Affairs faculty and staff to attempt some level of crowd control. I tried to keep my area somewhat subdued, but the whole event really turned into a circus as Coulter's loaded arguments continually received jeers, rude gestures, and more from a mostly antagonistic audience.

I left the event heavy-hearted as so many students I have been called to share the love and message of Jesus with left with angry, bitter hearts, hardened in their preconceptions about Christians, God, etc... as Coulter regularly identifies herself as a Christian, and the majority of America's evangelicals are heavily associated with political conservatism.

However, I believe God has set us up for a great opportunity of response, and our Tulane students agree. Before we knew of this visit by Ann Coulter, and it's association with what is called Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week we had invited missionary Mark Orfila to come visit our students to share about his experiences ministering among Islamic Albanians in the Balkans on the 29th of October. Mark has an amazing heart of love for Muslims to the point of literally turning the other cheek when he was beaten for his work sharing the message of Jesus!

Mark has agreed to change our planned prayer time into an outreach for dialogue at Tulane. Please pray for us!

As part of the publicity for this event (not much time to get the word out), I have submitted the following letter to the editor of the Tulane Hullabaloo (student newspaper) this afternoon:

One of the most difficult statements Jesus of Nazareth ever made was, “Love your enemies.” Many people throughout history, and around the globe today have made a practice of self-identifying with Jesus as a Christian while routinely neglecting his more difficult teachings. Ms. Ann Coulter is one of those millions. While I cannot speak for the reality of her religious persuasion and faith, I am confident in the assertion that her recent visit and talk at Tulane completely failed to reflect the ethic of Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers…Blessed are the meek…Turn the other cheek…Walk an extra mile…” Even as all people fall short of the ultimate expression of Jesus’ teachings, I think it very unfortunate if anyone at Tulane were to take Coulter’s attitudes and beliefs as generally representative of Tulane’s Christian population. Ms. Coulter refuses to give a legitimate hearing to those she disagrees with, and makes her money by belittling opposing people and views. Despite the rather juvenile response of the crowd this past Monday at McAlister Auditorium, I believe we can all be bigger than that. As a leader of one of the Christian communities here are Tulane, I would like to invite the Tulane community to an honest dialogue regarding such difficult issues as cultural and economic imperialism, terrorism and religiously motivated violence in general, tolerance and hatred, and Christian evangelistic work. These are not easy topics, but if we are to be the best people we can be, we must address difficult issues with more than a jeer, a prejudgment, or an apathetic wave of the hand. I also hope Tulane Christians can have the opportunity to graciously present their beliefs, and the ethic they embrace as followers of Jesus of Nazareth. As one step in that direction, I invite the Tulane community to join us this coming Monday, the 29th, in the 1834 Room/Faculty-Staff Dining room in the LBC (#215) at 8pm for a talk and dialogue with a Christian worker who has lived with the Islamic Albanian people in the Balkans for the past decade: When Cultures Clash: Hatred vs. Tolerance… or is there another Way – a counterpoint to Ann Coulter. For the sake of space and real dialogue, only the first 60 guests will be admitted.

Fall Breakaway

This weekend, we are taking more than 30 New Orleans students to Louisiana Chi Alpha's annual Fall Breakaway. This weekend retreat is something we look forward to every fall, as God does such amazing things there: building life-long friendships, drawing students into salvation life, filling students with the power of the Holy Spirit...

Please keep us in prayer this weekend: safe travel, and God's will.

This group is twice the size of any group we've brought in the past!

September/October Newsletter

printable version here:

https://greenspace.tulane.edu/xythoswfs/webui/_xy-142689_1

A Time for Prayer: Fall Leadership Advance

Hello!

We've had a pretty active first weekend at Tulane and Loyola. I'll post some pictures and a bit more news tomorrow or later this week.

In the meantime, I covet your prayers. We will be taking our Leadership Team out to Pensacola, FL this coming weekend: Saturday-Monday. There we will be vision-casting, praying, training, and planning for maximum effectiveness on campus this semester. But, all the training, planning, vision-casting we can do is meaningless without the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.

Please pray with us this week, especially Thursday, which I am making a day of fasting and prayer for the coming weekend.

thank you!

edit::the fast has been postponed until tomorrow, as I have not been feeling well.

Gearing up for Fall Kick-Off

Here is our postcard newsletter that just hit the mail today:

Click on the image to see it larger.

For more info on upcoming events, check out www.nolaxa.com and view the calendar there.
(By the time you read this, I may have put the calendar on this website...)

Also, stay tuned here, as I'll give more specifics on what's coming up, and how you can pray, and support us.

Did you know that college 80-90% of college freshmen connect with a peer group on campus in the first 6 weeks, and will spend the next 4 years primarily among that small group of friends?

Wow! That gives us 40 days from move-in time to find our opportunities for befriending new students in hopes of sharing the love and message of Jesus with them. That calls for some serious prayer.

Summer Time Prayers

It's hot, hot, hot in New Orleans these days, and the heat is up in our hearts as we are praying up, and planning through for a great fall kick-off.

In about 6 weeks, we will begin welcoming a few thousand new students to New Orleans. Please pray with us, as we strategically plan and prepare to meet as many of them as possible.

* Pray that our student leaders are full of faith and vision, as they are key in meeting the new students, introducing them to Chi Alpha, and to Jesus.

* Pray that I persevere in raising the necessary monthly financial support Jen and I need to continue full-time ministry unhindered (approx $300/mo.).

* Pray that area churches catch the vision for reaching university students, and partner with us in our kick-off events with time, resources, and prayers.

Getting Ready to Visit Haiti

The Nation of Haiti is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. It has a history of oppression, slave trading, racial violence, and is the home of the religious amalgamation known as voodoo.

It is located on the island known as Hispaniola, sharing this spot of land in the Caribbean Sea with the Dominican Republic. Hispaniola is south of the Bahamas and east of Cuba.

The nation has been wracked by political turmoil in recent years in response to years of gross exploitation by government leaders. The people have needs of all kinds.

Jen and I are getting ready to take a 9 day trip to this nation at the end of the month. We will be accompanied by two Loyola students, and we hope that this trip might be the first of several the Chi Alpha New Orleans will take in the future. In some ways, it's a scouting trip.

While we are there, we will likely be working with children in an orphanage, serving, and possibly teaching about Jesus at schools, serving those who serve the people of Haiti (pastors, missionaries, teachers, orphanage workers), and praying at the University in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

Please pray for us as we prepare for this spiritually intense trip. We need special grace with passport applications that have been delayed, especially.

Wow!

Monday nights' Gathering went amazingly well. God did all the work.
The music team was wonderful, and we had a great time of musical worship. My message seemed a bit rough. Half the time, I wasn't sure I was really communicating, but God made great things happen nonetheless:

one student received the gift of speaking in tongues, as a sign of the infilling of the Holy Spirit! Praise the Lord!

...in other news.
1) newsletter should be out next week sometime.
2) our leads for potential staff next year have all run out, at this point. Please continue to pray that God would send laborers. We're in a good place: the realm of human impossibility.