Somebody shoot me or I'm gonna to die!

So typically, at the end of the year our students are stressed to the max with finals and end of the year papers and such... Meanwhile, we get to breathe easy the last week of school. This is not the case this year.
I had a mini-panic attack in staff last week when I began to think of all the things on my plate as of late and all the things that may change for our ministry next year... House hunting for next year, throwing wedding showers, decorating for New Members Lunch for Crossway, planning for 28/20 Conference in 2 weeks, having a leadership dessert and book discussion in a week, doing an end of the year picnic for our journey students, visiting my parents before they leave for Tiawan, Pastoral interviews to become a member of Crossway, Restoration (Worship through dance) rehersals and performances, all the normal ministry stuff that's in every week, and the list goes on and on... "Let him who serves, serve cheerfully" AMEN! Pray for the peace of God to guard my heart and mind. God has constantly called me into communion with him this week-- and I am thankful! Pray though that he would help me finish well and live in his spirit! ...and no more panic attacks in the name of Jesus! Thanks! Love you all!

Repentance on Legion Field

Last night, we finished our most recent 21 days of non-stop prayer with Tribe Issachar. We ended with a time of public worship and repentance at Legion Field on campus. Young and old made it out, a group of 60 year-olds and 20 year-olds-- a beautiful site before our God. Below is a prayer my director, Mike Satterfield encouraged us with. I wanted you to read it, so you could know how to pray for us. Again, if you live in Athens and want a quiet place to pray, come downtown to the prayer room and join us. (For more info: http://www.tribeissachar.com/)


Repent:
To agree with God about sin; to turn away from and change one’s mind about sin
To be done with worldliness
For do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
Repent!
It’s what we need to do tonight

For the wickedness of a nation
For the thousands of unborn lives that are sacrificed on the alters of convenience and choice
For the Pulitzer Prize winners, and Nobel Laureates, for the Diplomats and Heads of State, the elementary school teachers and college professors, the athletes, the mothers and fathers of future generations whose lives have been snuffed out before they had a chance to be heard
For the rivers of innocent blood that flow in our streets
For our lack of moral outrage as a people
For valuing the amassing of wealth over and above the value of human life
For striving to become rich in finances instead of poor in spirit
To him whom much is given, much is expected
I can think of no other nation on earth in the last 5 decades that has been given what we’ve been given and it terrifies me to think of the Judgment of God that is yet to come
Repent!
It’s what we need to do tonight

For the waywardness of a generation
For buying hook, line, and sinker every lie that our TV’s and radios tell us
For allowing ourselves to become so anesthetized to violence through the media that school shootings and the murdering of one’s own parents would become common place in our culture
For becoming not just tolerant but enamored with pornography, so that what passes for PG-13 in movies today would not have been given a showing 50 years ago
We prosecute the sick deviant who watches through the window of a private residence under cover of darkness and then we enter into a dark theater and do the same and call it entertainment
Woe to a generation that calls evil good and good evil
Repent!

For clinging to an entitlement mentality that believes that everybody owes us something, especially God
Woe to this generation for getting that right, for what the Holy One owes to us, what we rightly have earned by our repulsive sin, Scripture says is death and Hell
Repent!
It’s what we need to do tonight

For our corporate sins as the Body of Christ
For our pride and arrogance, looking down our noses at people who are “different” from us
For the naiveté that would presume that this present generation of college students and 20–somethings will eventually settle down and return to their Christian roots when they have been given no roots to return to
For the rampant spirit of religious ambition that keeps pastors and ministry leaders focused on their little “k” kingdoms instead of our Master’s Capital “K” Kingdom
For the same spirit that makes us divisive and suspicious of one another instead of submitting to the Holy Spirit who longs for us to embrace one another in Christ
For the club-house attitude that is pervasive in much of American Christianity that puts the happiness and contentment of its members above and before being missional in a community
For ferociously guarding our favorite padded pews instead of falling on our knees before Almighty God
For seeking comfort and complacency instead of going and serving and wading out into the muck and mire of humanity up to our elbows in an effort to love people who are made in the Image of God
For being ashamed of the Gospel so as to water it down and make it about happiness instead of righteousness
Repent!
It’s what we need to do tonight

For our individual sins – the pet sins that we keep chained up and hidden away that we think no one sees, that we rationalize about and stroke and feed and nurture
You know which ones
Even now as I speak God brings them to your mind
Be done with them
Repent!

For our apathy about sharing the Gospel while 9 out of 10 people around us on this campus is dieing and going to Hell
For making time to watch 24 and see Jack Bauer save the world when we won’t go to the trouble to see one person saved from the wrath that is to come
For sitting down to watch Grey’s anatomy every week when we put forth little or no effort to invite the Great Physician to examine our hearts and lives
For ritualistically gathering to see this week’s episode of Lost when we don’t even see those right next door to us who are eternally lost
For choosing worldliness over Godliness
For indulging in the lust of our flesh instead of crucifying it
For rallying to the battle cry of this generation when they say “Live for self!” instead of embracing the heart-cry of our Lord who says “Die to self!” Tonight, men and women, we must repent

God is ready to move now
The time has come now
The tide is sweeping in now
The dam is breaking and the enemy can no longer hold back the flood of the Holy Spirit

We cannot make it happen
We cannot manipulate our God by our cajoling and vowing like the pagans do
We cannot be strong enough, kind enough, smart enough, relevant enough, or good enough
Tonight, there is one thing, and one thing only that we can and MUST do
Repent!

oh the variance of ministry...

Holy Ghost revival, a 17 with a baby on the way, an additional disciple, beach evangelism, and a equipping conference for pastors... What do these things have in common? They would be the things that have kept my schedule full lately.

Revival??
God broke our students this past Tuesday... last week everything was running as normal until the end of our meeting-- then the Holy Spirit broke loose! Normally, we have a time of prayer and ministry after the talk... our folks can pray with a staffer or let whatever truth they just heard settle into their hearts. But last week, when we dismissed our students no one left. All 40 of them sat in the presence of the Lord-- still and quite as the Spirit descended on us. For the next 45 minutes, students prayed with one another, repented, sung, and read scripture, aloud. We are so thankful for God's ministry and grace to us. Please keep praying our students would be sensitive and obedient to the Spirit!
Under-aged Daddy?
My church, Crossway Fellowship, did a bit of street evangelism on Friday night. My friend Alan and I encountered three 17-year-old guys. Our conversation begun by one of them sharing he had recently become a father. Alan has 4 boys, so they bonded immediately. God opened their hearts to listen as Alan explained the gospel and the impact of our church on his life. Each teen intenly listened and admitted that they were not walking with God, but wanted to. We gave them a book called "50 Reasons Why Jesus Died" and invited them to our church. Please keep these boys in prayer. I hope that we will see them again or God would bring someone into their lives to disciple and love them.
Another Disciple?
I'm picking up a girl, named Sonya. She is a Pre-med student at UGA and has been discipled by another staffer (who has recently resigned) for the last 2 years. Pray that God would give us deep love and trust for one another. Pray also that God would give me wisdom to discern how to help her grow.
Is there a beach in Athens?
There is if you live in Brumby... or a grassy hill at the very least! My small group that has been meeting inside Brumby this semester is moving out! Out to "Brumby Beach" where freshman play and sunbathe-- to meet girls and share the gospel. Please pray God would prepare hearts-- that of the girls we meet and the girls in my small group. We will be out there every Monday afternoon for the next 5 weeks. This will be the first time some have shared the gospel before!! Pray for boldness!
28/20 Conference??
Our staff team is prepping for a conference designed to equip local pastors and leaders in discipleship. The conference wil be in Athens, the first weekend in May. God has been stirring hearts and a few key churches are very excited and have committed to come. These training weekends are key to WDA's overall mission to serve the church and do discipleship. We have encountered frustration from the enemy in some areas, so pray God will have his way and that churches would come. I fear too often, we may be labeled as a "classic campus ministry" that takes away from the local church; this is not our goal, heart, or strategy. Please pray God would knit our heart with the hearts of local churches here in Athens. We are filled with faith that God is opening doors for us to work through and with them, not apart from them. If you are interested in the conference, go to http://www.2820conference.org/ I know that it will (and has in the past) greatly benefit all who attend!

New Orleans 2007

...And we are back. Whew, what a week! After a week of Cloroxing, priming, painting, praying, evangelism, and leading-- my communication is slightly jumbled and I think I may take the rest of the day off.;)
Thank you for praying for me and for the students that went to New Orleans. This was one of the smoothest trips I've been on and we encountered many people open to the gospel. I know that was the grace of God through your prayers. Most of the week our team worked with a quirky, elderly woman who has been living in a FIMA trailer since Katrina. She has two homes which have both remained in a constant state of reconstruction since the hurricane. Hopefully, she will soon be able to move into one of those houses. Ann was a professor at Auburn University, had run for governor in '95, and was a world traveler... She sat with us and told us stories from her life and was sure to show us spots we missed in our repairs! Though she repeatedly told us that she could work for a day and do the work it took 9 20-somethings to do in 3 days, we think she appreciated us being there. She definitely loved having people to talk with and care for her.

At night, when we were out and about, God set-up some pretty unique encounters with people. I'll tell you about one that was the most impactful to me. Tuesday afternoon, our team was doing their quite times out on Jackson Square. I was reading my Bible and had John Owens' book- Mortification of Sin and J.I. Packer's book- Knowing God, spread out on the lawn. A guy in his twenties strolled up to me...Our conversation went something like this:
Corie: Hi. My wife and I were over there and I thought you were pretty. So she told me to come over and talk to you.
Me: (slightly weirded out) Uhh... Hi, OK. I'm Becca. What's your name? Are you from New Orleans?
...He proceeded to introduce himself and tell me that he and his pregnant wife live out of a truck and do construction for her father. Matt, the other staffer, quickly joined us, met Corie, and we invited he and his wife to come to dinner with our team . A few minutes later his wife walked up and dove down to where I was sitting, directly in front of my Bible and books. She looked at John Owens' book and said:
Sylvia (using a drawn out hippie voice): Mortification of sin. Whoa, that's intense. What does that mean? What are you reading? Job? Is that how you say it?
Me: Haha, yeah that's how you say it. I'm reading a book about sin because of sin in my life. Do you know what sin is?
Sylvia: No, what is it?
... As I was talking, Matt began his own conversation with Corie. Both conversations immediately landed in the gospel. What grace is found in the sovereignty of God! After 45 minutes of getting to know them and explaining the gospel from several different angles, we were late to meet our team for dinner. The couple came with us and stayed with our team for the rest of the night. There was no moment of lightening strike or time that they said "we want to follow Jesus", but they both carefully weighed our words and the message of Christ. Please pray for our friends, first that they would come to know and follow Christ and secondly for provision-- of health, Sylvia has many health problems and pregnancy is very dangerous for her-- and of housing and consistent employment. Very few times have I felt such a deep connection or love for a stranger, indeed that was the Spirit. Please pray for them.



Soon to come is a short video Matt put together so you can get a litle taste of our week. Enjoy! Thanks again for your support!
Love you all!

Spring Break

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." (Romans 12)

In 6 days, 24 hours, and 9 minutes, 8 students, 1 wda staffer, and I will be pulling out of Athens-- trekking to New Orleans, Louisiana, to build homes for families yet still displaced by Hurricane Katrina. This is UGA's Spring Break... a time when most students bask in the sun at the beach, catch up on sleep stolen from studying and partying, visit friends and family, or get a head start on their studying as to pave a way for a breezy spring. But this small group will choose not to look to their own interests, but look to the interest of others. We have spent a lot of time talking about genuine service, recently, at the journey. I pray that this week would be used to further our students understanding and application of Christlike humility and service.

Last week, we studied the life of Gideon together on Tuesday. Matt, a staffer, ended his talk with this comment by Cundall: "The final chapter of Gideon's life appears as a distinct anticlimax to the heroic actions of the earlier section... The man who had given such a magnificent lead to his fllowers, now sets a deplorable example of self-indulgence, in which he, his family, and the whole nation were involved... Perhaps it is easier to honor God in some courageous action in the limelight of a time of national emergency than it is to honor Him consistently in the ordinary, everyday life, which requires a different kind of courage."

This is my prayer-- that our students would have this kind of courage-- to honor God consistently in the ordinary, everyday life. Pray with me that we would all cease to see service as situational or circumstantial and know it as our character-- after that of our God-- being a humble servant to all men. Our trip is March 12-16... I will update throughout the week and tell you of what God has done. Be expectant and full of faith, for I know he has planned good works for us in an eternity past!

I am grateful for your heart to serve me through your prayer and encouragement!
How can I serve you?