Evangelistic

Blue Mondays- Part Two

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Elijah 052 (2)

By Steve Stuckey

Steve is a spiritual director with InterVarsity in Southern California. He writes here on this blog to foster spiritual formation for us catalytic leaders. Our hope is to create some space online to not only stir you up to be an APE leader but also help you connect with God well in your soul. He has developed many APE leaders and knows what our strengths as well as struggles are.

[This post is part of a series called Rooted. Find the other posts here]

Elijah the Prophet

His name means El is Yah or God is Yahweh. His job was to confront false religion, clear out the pantheon, and call a recalcitrant people back to their roots. He performed his dangerous task with authority, humility, and humor. Like Moses he had a twin peak experience in life—two high points with a valley in between. (Read 1 Kings 17-19 and view this artistic study). Learning to navigate that type of spiritual geography is an important task for any follower of Jesus, especially for apostles, prophets and evangelists.

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[update #1] God is Moving in My Neighbors

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small typical german small city of bonames in birds view

[This is an update to a previous post]

By Beau Crosetto

Two weeks ago I shared with you about how I got overly angry at my wife and how I felt like God was going to use that in my relationship with my neighbors who are curious about Jesus. I told you I was going to share with them about my struggle and let them into how I pursue Christ for my transformation.

Well over the last two weeks I have shared with them and I have some powerful updates.

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Why We Miss Moments With God, And How To Fix That

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By Beau Crosetto

Last week a few of my buddies and I went to play tennis. We needed a 4th and it dawned on me to invite a guy I play volleyball with. He said yes and we had a great time playing that night. But when we were done I wanted to see if God was up to more so I asked the guy if he wanted to grab a drink and talk a bit in my man cave.

He stuck around and we had a great conversation until about 11:30 at night. The guy is an Indian man with a Hindu background. He is very spiritual but has a completely different view of God than I do. We had a great discussion about faith and at the end I asked him if he would be willing to read a book with me and debate the ideas in the book instead of the ideas in our head.

He said yes! So we are now going to start chewing through “Mere Christianity” and talking about the ideas of truth, morality and if there is one God or not.

I am really excited to keep talking with this guy, but I almost missed the moment. I almost didn’t invite him, almost went to bed when tennis was over, almost didn’t push into the spiritual conversation, and almost didn’t ask him to read a book with me.

It got me thinking about the disciples in John 4 and how they totally missed the moment Jesus had with the woman at the well.

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International Student Comes to Christ!

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[This is part of the College Writers series. We are looking for students who want to post great stories like below.]

HeadshotThis is a great story of conversion told by Christine. She is a college student at UCSD, majoring in Literatures in English. She is a Vision Team Leader for InterVarsity’s international chapter (International Christian Fellowship).

Grace and I first met through UCSD’s language exchange program in Fall of 2012. Our first conversation was light and simple, but things changed when she asked me about what I did for fun. I told her that I like to sing at my church on Sunday mornings, and surprisingly, she asked if she could join me. Her intrigue about church surprised me, and I responded with excitement! She then asked me what else she could do in San Diego to have fun while improving her English. I recommended that she come to International Christian Fellowship (ICF) so that she could meet both American and international students who would become good potential friends for her. Immediately, her eyes widened, and she told me that two other people had told her about ICF that week! This seemed like perfect orchestration. From that moment on, I asked God to show Himself to be real to Grace.

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If You Share Your Weakness, You Can Reach Your Neighbors

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Couple screaming

If we want to reach our unreached neighbors with the love of Jesus Christ, then we have to show them what Jesus can do for them. We have to show them what transformation really looks like.

And unfortunately that transformation is going to be seen through your weakness being perfected in Christ. They need to  see the places that we fall short in our character so we can then allow them to watch us as we pursue Christ and He transforms us.

It might be anxiety, lust, materialism, envy, jealousy, or greed. I don’t know what your genuine short fall is.

But mine is definitely anger.

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Do You Wish Your Ministry Grew By Conversion?

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Nick (R) & Jon (L) are two of the guys leading Greek InterVarsity with me in LA.

By Beau Crosetto

I am a happy man today and that is because Nick Kwok, the Greek InterVarsity Staff at UCLA, is doing a phenomenal job planting the ministry and seeing it grow. But not just growing by accumulating believers. He is growing the ministry with God through conversion.

Earlier this year Nick was able to lead a student to faith in a fraternity and that was obviously exciting. But the news just gets better. Last night Nick led another guy to faith in that same fraternity. It is a great sign of growing by conversion and an answer to our prayers. At the beginning of the year, this was a fraternity without a believer in it, and now God led one guy to faith in Jesus and that guy opened the door for his fraternity brother to experience the same. That is the kind of ministry that excites me and that is growth through conversion!

One of our goals this year in the plant was to see 7 students come to faith in the ministry. So far we have 6 as of last night. Nick has been radically committed as he plants this ministry to not just accumulate believers in Christ but to articulate a vision that makes tons of space for people who are skeptics and seekers of Jesus. He makes space by doing four specific things.

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Solitude is More than Separation

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By Beau Crosetto

Often times when we think about getting some solitude we think about getting some free space to do our own thing. We just need that hour to unwind, relax and catch our breath. But this is not what solitude is at all.

The last two days I took a retreat with a few of my friends to step back and reflect on the year and how God has been moving.

I love these times because it gives me a chance to soak up all that God has been up to and not just move on. It also allows me to address problem areas with him and  let him shape me more into his image.

One of the things I did on this retreat is re-read through Henri Nouwen’s great book The Way of the Heart.

The first part of the book is all about solitude and just what it really is. Here is a great quote from the book that struck me.

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Hospitality

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This is a guest post by Laura Hairston. Laura is a wife, mom & practitioner. She serves on the National Leadership team for Forge America Mission Training Network and is co-founder of Waken Ministries,  both organizations helping with missionary formation & discipleship. Connect with her on  Twitter | Facebook

Flower arrangements. The smell of homemade bread. Martha Stewart. This is what used to come to mind when I heard the word “hospitality.”  If you know me at all, even the mention of ‘homemade’ or ‘Martha Stewart’ would have kicked me out of the running already.

Or, if you’ve grown up attending church or attend currently, you probably had a Hospitality Team or may even serve in that role now.  These individuals typically manage the coffee table, greet you with a smile, and were probably placed there because it was in the top 3 of their Gift Assessment. Turns out the church has a very SMALL view of hospitality and so did myself.

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Escape From Captivity

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I cant help but think about what it means to be a neighbor as I watch this Ohio Case unfold.

If you have been in a cave the last few days, three women have been held captive in a house for 10 years and none of the neighbors knew. the details that are leaking out are just horrible.

But what is interesting to me is the neighbor that found them and rescued them. His interview is below and it is great (this is the recent one by Anderson Cooper).

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