ECSU: A Diamond in the Ruff

ECSU is a diamond in the ruff. Cliche, I know, but it is very true. Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) is in the heart of Willimantic, one of, if not the most economically poorest towns in Connecticut. It is also a smaller school, where last year's fall semester enrollment was 5,606 students. The average person in the United States has not really heard much about that school. When I talk to people outside of Connecticut, I can't just tell them, "I do ministry at Eastern," because they usually think of Eastern University, a Christian college in Pennsylvania. I usually tell them, "It is about a 10 minute drive from UConn." And they say, "Oh, okay," because mostly everyone knows about UConn.

ECSU is a public liberal arts school, the only one in Connecticut, that I know of. A liberal arts education basically requires you to not just take courses applicable to your major, but courses under a variety of other subjects including, but not limited to Mathematics, Science, Art, Music, Sociology, History, Business, and much more. It is designed to broaden people's horizons and perspectives of the world, which makes the overall environment at ECSU very exciting to work at.

ECSU is an environment of curiosity. When I led Bible Studies with students in the Student Center last year, students constantly came up to us asking, "Hey what are you guys doing?" Some would even sit in for a few minutes!

ECSU students crave relationships. Freshmen in particular are coming into this school and are looking to get connected in some way. Their high school status and clique are gone and it is a fresh, clean slate. For some it is exciting, for others it is a little terrifying. They desire to meet new friends. They desire to be accepted and to meet new people.

ECSU has exciting spiritual history. Many alumni of ECSU were part of a movement in Eastern CT called "The Burning Bush." Christian students there used to take busloads of other students to a farm the next town over to hear sermons and have Bible Studies. It was a very exciting time and many ECSU alumni from that time period remember The Burning Bush with fondness.

Many Christian alumni in my circles of friends also fondly remember their time at ECSU. They look back at those years where they too also found identity and purpose in Jesus Christ. It was a time when they too went through growth and have a myriad of great memories and close friendships.

ECSU has been a spiritual blessing for me. I became much more solid as a Christian because of my time at ECSU. I got plugged into the Christian club there and for the first time in my life found like-minded Christians my own age. Through it my faith in Jesus took off! It was at ECSU that I have memories such as having early morning Bible Studies at Hurley Hall (the dining hall), late night prayer walks around campus, witnessing opportunities with students and local Willimantic teens, and much more.

If it wasn't for ECSU, I would not be where I am today. It was there where I found the true meaning of accountability, fellowship, and even spiritual leadership. It is a true honor and blessing to now be able to bless other curious students for this coming year!

I can't wait!

Reflections on Last Wednesday (3/30)

Photo: Students socializing in the Student Center at ECSU. This is where a majority of my time is spent ministering to students, including where I met students for follow-up last Wednesday.

Last Wednesday was an amazing experience. For YEARS 180 Christian Fellowship, the club at Eastern I work with has been trying to implement successful follow-up. Ever since Spring 2006, when we had the band/ministry Holyfire (now the band is called Out Of Hiding) do an outreach concert at Eastern. Roughly 20 people made a profession of Christ that night at the concert and NONE of them were followed up successfully. The club tried again almost every year, doing an outreach event to freshmen, calling it the Hoozamadingie. In the event, they handed out spiritual interest surveys, and once again failed to follow-up with ANY of the students who were interested in knowing more. If Dawson Trotman, the founder of The Navigators, were alive today and working at ECSU, he would be one unhappy man.

A few weeks ago, we tried once again setting up a table and handing out surveys to students. We had hundreds filled out, some good conversations, and 19 students responded saying they wanted follow-up. This time I started making phone calls and sending out e-mails, just praying for a breakthrough. Out of the 19 students who replied, ONLY FOUR said they wanted to actually meet up in a group setting and discuss their questions, issues, etc. with God, Jesus, the Bible, Rebecca Black (if you don't know who she is...good) and much more.

We decided to meet last Wednesday at 6:00pm over pizza. If I were one of the students, I would be incredibly confused and nervous meeting a total stranger in the Student Center, especially to talk about the Bible. However, contrary to popular belief, FIVE students bravely wandered into the Student Center looking for a guy in a black hoodie with a box of pizza. One student called out sick, promising he would be there next week and another student brought two friends. That makes SIX people total for the group! The group meeting went VERY well, and the students felt comfortable sharing their questions and expressed interest in wanting to explore the scriptures in future weeks to see who Jesus actually is! So for the first time EVER (at least from what I remember) successful Christian follow-up was finally implemented at ECSU.

What I heard about behind the scenes before, during, and after the meeting though was probably even more exciting! TONS of people, more than I even know, were praying fervently for these students. My e-mail box got blown up by lots of responses from people. My church had a prayer meeting that night, and THEY were praying (they usually gather to pray and such on Wednesdays...it wasn't just for me!). The pastor at my parents church had a STRONG burden to pray that night for me at a Bible study he was leading that night. I heard later that another local church in town actually sent out the news in their congregational prayer chain and they were interceding for me. It was so exciting, and I think for the first time in my life, I can actually say that I FELT prayer. I felt a "Holy Spirit supercharge" all day long. It was so exciting to see the prayers of saints WORK right before my eyes!

So if you prayed Wednesday....THANK YOU! If you're praying right now....THANK YOU! Your prayers are NOT in vain. God hears you, and I thank you so much for your support!

Stay tuned and please continue praying!

Working Just at ECSU

A tough decision made recently was for me to work ONLY at Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU), not at Manchester Community College (MCC). I came to this decision last month, when I came to a point of feeling overwhelmed by the number of hats I was wearing and the number of new and exciting things I was learning. Jeff Kraines, my campus director and boss, suggested it when I was sharing with him my frustrations and struggles.

I'll start with the hats....Last year I worked at Sports Authority four days a week from 6:00am to 1:00pm, I worked at ECSU once or twice a week, I worked at Manchester Community College, I made funding phone calls and met with partners, I volunteered at my local church, and I helped out at a local youth group.

Sounds like a lot of hats, right? The temptation sometimes in serving Christ is to over-serve. I want to serve Christ and make Him known, but I am only one man! I can only serve in the capacity that I am allowed. As soon as I start feeling overwhelmed and drained, something is wrong. I had to also say goodbye to the youth group I was volunteering at last year for the same reason. Saying, "No", to things is something I'm learning more about. In serving Christ in whatever capacity, I want to give 100%, knowing full well that God will bless it, not just doing it under compulsion because it's my "obliged Christian duty."

At the same time, I am very excited about this decision, because I get to put more focus on my alma mater. ECSU means a lot to me and it is a school I love very much. How I long to see more men and women there who are excited about seeking and serving Jesus!

So for the time being, it's just Eastern. I'm working with some students over there, and others who also go to local community colleges who come to the Christian club on campus. I reach out to non-Christian students, showing them that I'm not some freak just out to complete an agenda, but a friend who desires to get to know them and at the same time show them Jesus Christ. It's harder, it's slower, it's more time consuming, but I pray that it will be worth it. I'm also mentoring some Christian students on campus in both small group and one-on-one relationships. Thanks for your prayers and support!

Serving with you,

Steve

Christmas Reflections

Earlier tonight I was able to watch The Nativity Story with some close friends. Though it really wasn't exactly how things went down as they were recorded in scripture, it at least gave people a feel for the basic story as well as a very accurate glimpse into what the culture of those days was like.

One thing that has really been standing out to me this Christmas season is the faith of Mary and Joseph in the nine months building up to Jesus' birth. In Mary's time, living in an extremely conservative and legalistic culture, she risked the possibility of being beaten and stoned to death, losing her husband, and reputation for coming back home from a long trip being pregnant.

In Luke 1, it said that after Mary got visited by Gabriel and became pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit, she sang a beautiful and theologically rich song of praise to God. It highlighted how she trusted in His sovereignty over her present situation. The scriptures never mentioned, however, any feelings of doubt, fear or anxiety Mary felt afterward. Did that mean she never went through them? Come on now, she's human! Of course Mary must have battled with some doubts, especially when she came back and saw Joseph's shocked face at the fact her belly was bigger than when they last saw each other.

Then of course one must think of her parents. I bet they were a little concerned too! In the situation she was in once she got home, Elizabeth, her cousin with whom she could definitely sympathize with and vent to, was nowhere in sight. She was alone with her faith.

Have you been like that before? Maybe you're the only Christian in your family this Christmas. It's tough, right? Maybe your family just cares about opening presents, drinking egg nog, maybe "sparking" that nog a bit, then getting drunk and passing out. The last thing they want to rejoice over is Jesus' birth. Probably the only time they say the words "Jesus Christ" is when they're upset. People around you don't understand you. They may even be judging you and making fun of you behind your back.

I guarantee you, though scripture doesn't record it, Mary was there. Nazareth was a small town and I'm sure word got out that Mary came back from her long trip pregnant.

Or maybe you had a set plan this past year of what you wanted to do with your life, but a monkey wrench got thrown into it. That was Joseph. He had the woman of his dreams, a steady job, and a house. Then all of a sudden his plans got thwarted because Mary came home pregnant AND the Roman government tells him he has to go back to Bethlehem, where he was born, and register for the census. He then had to take his very pregnant new wife who he can't even have sex with across rocky desert terrain with little food and water and a high risk of attack by thieves on the roads. Not exactly the plan he was thinking of, eh?

But they both took that journey together in faith knowing that this was from God and that He would provide for their every need.

I can tell you one thing....I did NOT expect this past year to turn out the way it did.

I had a plan: quit Storrs Drug, join EDGE Corps, fundraise all summer, be fully funded, get housing locally in Willimantic, start a Bible Study with non-Christians on campus at Eastern, help the Bible clubs on both the ECSU and MCC campuses grow, and disciple a few students.

That was NOT what happened at all. I only raised 21% of my full-time salary. It was such a stressful time over the summer raising support, that I never even got around to finding a place locally in Willimantic over the summer. No Bible Study was ever started at Eastern this past semester with non-Christians. I can only count on one hand the amount of deep spiritual conversations I had with them. The Bible clubs on both the MCC and ECSU campuses went through some hard months this semester and there was a decline in the spiritual morale and general population of both clubs. Lastly, since I was only on each campus once a week on average, I only was able to start a steady discipling relationship with one student. The rest of the discipling relationships I had fell apart because those students lost spiritual interest.

On top of that, there have been new and tough convictions placed in my heart concerning discipleship, church, what it means to be truly SOLD OUT for Christ, and much more. They are still things that I'm still trying to understand. However, just like Joseph and Mary, I want to take a deep step of faith this year. I have NO idea what this coming year will look like. I have no idea what even this coming month will look like!

For those of you who supported me this past year, thank you so much once again for your prayers, your advice, words of wisdom and encouragement, financial contributions and of course....MY HOUSING! A wonderful surprise this past year was not only when I was going to move more locally, but where. I did not see myself AT ALL living where I am now, and I am deeply thankful for it.

This Christmas, though circumstances are crazy, I thank God for the blessings He has given me. This past year throughout all the financial hardship, I never went broke, hungry or homeless. I gained new friends and became closer with existing friends. God has been good in more ways than I could have ever dreamed.

This Christmas, take a quiet moment away from family and the busyness. Reflect on God's goodness and grace. Reflect on HIS SON going from limitless God of the universe not bound by space and time to an infant who could only cry and poop, who spent His first night on earth in a feeding trough to start a rescue mission for our souls!

Merry Christmas!

-Steve

Gladys Aylward

"On the third day on my new job, I was sitting on my bed reading my Bible. I had now reached Nehemiah. I felt very sorry for him and understood why he wept and mourned when he heard about Jerusalem in its great need and could do nothing about it. He was a sort of butler and had to obey his employer just like I did, I thought. Then I turned to the second chapter. 'But he did go,' I exclaimed aloud, and got up, a strange elation within me. 'He went in spite of everything!'

As if someone was in the room, a voice said clearly, 'Gladys Aylward, is Nehemiah's God your God?'

'Yes, of course!' I replied.

'Then do what Nehemiah did, and go.'

'But I am not Nehemiah.'

'No, but assuredly I am his God.'

That settled everything for me. I believed these were my marching orders.

I put my Bible on the bed, beside it my copy of Daily Light and, at the side of that, all the money I had--2 1/2 pence (or two and a half cents). What a ridiculous little collection it seemed, but I said simply, 'O God, here's the Bible about which I long to tell others, here's my Daily Light that every day will give me a new promise and here is 2 1/2 pence. If You want me, I am going to China with these.'"

-from Gladys Aylward's autobiography, The Little Woman (emphasis added)

Gladys Aylward was a missionary to China in the 1930s and 40s. She had this amazing eagerness and a deep desire to reach the people in China for Christ. She was told a lot of her life leading up to this point that Chinese was too difficult of a language for her and that she would never make it over there. She battled with discouragement until that fateful night when she surrendered all she had: a Bible, a devotional book and 2 1/2 pence, the English equivalent of 2 1/2 pennies.

Right after Gladys prayed that prayer, there was a knock at the door and it was her mistress, asking her how much she paid to travel to London, where she was working as a maid. Her goal with this job was to save up enough money to get a train to China. Her mistress asked her how much it cost her to get to London and she replied that it cost her two shillings and nine pence. Then the mistress reimbursed her three shillings. Her 2 1/2 pence just increased significantly!

Long story short, Gladys worked her tail off and was able to get enough money to board a train to China, where she would ultimately do some amazing work in people's lives over there, especially in the lives of Chinese children.

What got Gladys over to China initially? Was it the money she collected? Was it the train she took? Was it the network of people she collaborated with?

NO! It was her faith. It was that moment when she said to God, "Here is everything, and I am Yours. Please God, get me to China, the place You have called me to be."

I completely understand Gladys because that is how I feel with this opportunity God has given me this coming year to work with college students at Eastern Connecticut State University and Manchester Community College.

Like Gladys, I don't have much right now. The only thing I feel like I do have is this desire inside of me to go over there.

I believe God is challenging me to be like Gladys, because Nehemiah's God is Gladys' God, and Gladys' God is my God!

God bless,

Steve

SILENT

A song by Flyleaf called "In The Dark" had this line in it: "I used to be afraid of cluttered noises, now I'm afraid of silence."

It's interesting how life nowadays is so filled with NOISE! We love noise and constantly crave it, especially now with wonderful technological advances that make listening to music incredibly easy. People can just turn on their iPods and plug in, pumping sound into their eardrums. For myself personally I cannot think of one time that I didn't have some song stuck in my head that I had listened to before.

There is so much noise everywhere we turn! Whether it's from our iPods, cars, computers, televisions, cell phones, bluetooths (blueteeth?), radios (yes people still do use those), and much more.

There are times when I literally have to will myself to silence. For example, a little known fact about when I write is that I always write while listening to music. It doesn't matter what music it is, but I just love the harmonious flow of my writing to the music I'm listening to. However for this post, I'm actually writing it in complete silence. No music, no YouTube videos, nothing. Just the sound of my keyboard pattering as I type it.

Here is a verse that God has been putting on my heart a lot lately: "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent" (Exodus 14:14). The context of this verse is actually an interesting one. The Israelites, a people under the slavery of Egypt for years have finally been liberated and Moses is leading them away. Suddenly off in the distance those people see Egyptian troops approaching with Pharaoh at the lead. Their faith and excitement instantly vanishes as they immediately start complaining to Moses wishing they were back in the "comforts" of Egypt.

Then Moses says those words to these doubting and complaining people. Shortly after he says them, God does an amazing thing never seen before on planet earth. For an entire night, He takes a massive body of water weighing several tons and parts it with a strong east wind. He doesn't just part the water on top of the sea floor either with that wind, but the wind is so strong that it dries the very ground underneath that sea. This causes it to be sturdy and walkable for thousands of scared Israelites to cross to safety.

Though it doesn't say what the reaction of the Israelites was as this water parted, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an eerie hush over that crowd all night as they sat and watched the handiwork of the massive God they serve.

Has anyone ever felt like God has totally given up on them? Has anyone ever felt trapped by the circumstances around them wondering how they are ever going to get out?

For me, I have been there and I would be lying if I said I wasn't there now. I explained in my last post this dilemma I find myself in. I feel God has called me to minister to students at Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) and Manchester Community College (MCC). I say this because He got me this far already. In getting accepted to the EDGE Corps program, in being selected to go to these campuses I looked at them as signs of God's sovereign will and plan for this chapter of my life.

And now, here I stand looking out at this massive body of water filled with doubt, fear, discouragement, and maybe even depression. On the opposite shore is ECSU and MCC: two campuses that desperately need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. I have made calls, I have set appointments, and I have sent out letters. I have in many ways done everything I possibly can, and I will still do everything I possibly can.

However, according to that verse, God will fight for me. And right now, I have only to be silent, to wait. Wait on the sovereign and loving hand of God to make His move.

So what's it gonna be, Lord? I say that not in a challenging way, but in a trusting way.

God can move on these people's hearts. He can do it in New England, Florida, Texas, Ohio, California, Seattle, wherever He wants to, and if this is His will, which I believe that it is, then He will move.

Do you want to donate? Then right now make sure that God does. It is His money, not yours. If you don't believe in Christ and want to give then well...God bless you for your honesty and your charitable heart.

Time is short, but God is good.

God bless,

Steve