“Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.”
We took our students on a two hour bus tour through Minneapolis this past weekend. Everyone’s eyes were opened when we learned from CityVisionTC.org ‘s executive director John Mayer, as he explained some amazing facts and figures relating to Our Changing world and how we do ministry with the local church.
Some facts that blew me away:
- Phillips Neighborhood is the most diverse neighborhood in the United States of America.
- Largest concentration of Somalis in the U.S.
SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS URBAN TOUR
*The most diverse neighborhood in the U.S. with 100+ languages
*Explore “Eat Street” with over 75 ethnic restaurants in a six block area
*Largest concentration of Somalis in the U.S.
*Poorest neighborhood in Minnesota
* “White fright, White flight” and “Return flight”
*Somali malls, Asian malls, and Hispanic malls
*Midtown Global Market *Hindu temples
*Muslim mosques
*Witch covens
*Mormons
*Homosexual churches
*Cult and New Age groups
*Parachurch ministries
*White, Black, Hispanic, African, Asian, Native American, ethnic, and
multi-ethnic churches
“The Number one responsibility of a husband is to lead with the Word of God. And when a 1000 reasons are being accumulated and moked over to why we are sad, it’s my job to rise and call down some of the wonders deeds of God, some of the thoughts of God, Proclaim them and tell them!
- John Piper
“When Jesus speaks, life happens … is their deadness in your soul? Feed yourself with life giving word”
Peter says, Lord to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life. When we hear you, life happens … forever . Nobody else has these words like that!
-John Piper
I’ve been encourage by so many people throughout college to get in the Word. So often my problem lies here. I’m down, I’m in a fight, something is not going the way it should. I go and seek help. Usually the first question after listening to me is, “Nick, how has your time in the word been lately?” Oftenn, when im satuarated in the word, im often up. When I’m down, I’m usually not in the word.
Start off 2009 by developing a plan, getting someone to keep you accountable and feasting on more Jesus in your life!
What a fantastic Christmas Conference!
This was my 5th Christmas Conference and one of the best yet – we had a great new hotel in Milwaukee that facilitated great group time, the speakers connected well with students, and in general The Lord was moving in the lives of students in a unique way. Our two guest speakers focused on two of my favorite subjects, missions and discipleship!
Two students that came with Katie and I were Ben (Junior football player at St. Johns University) and Aaron (Sophomore pole-vaulter at St. Johns University) here is what they had to say:
Ben said “For starters, one thing that God taught me during the conference was that he is good and sovereign and he knows what is good for me even if I don’t see it as good for me. Having older guys share their stories and experiences encouraged me to learn more about my faith and put a desire in my heart to find the freedom they had found. The main thing that really hit home for me while I was at the conference was the importance of having community in your life to guide you through your walk and give you direction. I’m so thankful for the example the men on the trip set for me as far as how to live in community by sharing testimonies, having accountability groups, meditating on the word, and speaking truth into each others lives. Some things I want to change in my life are reading the word and reflecting on it daily, as well as finding community to surround myself with. I also learned that loving God means to give up my own desires and that I’m free to fail.
Aaron said “One thing that God taught me (and Nick backed up) at conference was the importance of Brotherhood. I went in with the thought of ‘yes, I get to meet some sweet Christian girls!’ and though I did do that, I came out with a tighter bond with the guys and a better understanding of who I am. I came out with the knowledge that a tight bond between your own gender ensures not only a good friendship, but peace of mind and body. It’s so hard to deal with this world on your own, but when you have people like Nick who invite you to a Conference such as the Milwaukee Conference 08′ and help you from relations with good people, boundless possibilities are made. The possibilities that God calls us to. God put Ben in my life so I’d meet you. I’m sure of it!
Ben met Aaron through a freshman bible study, and now Aaron is passionate and fired up about sharing his faith. Yesterday Aaron and I studied Gal 5:1 – the theme for this year’s conference, “For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
If you’d like to listen to the talks from the conference, you can download them for free at http://www.milwaukee08.com/downloads.php. One of the most impactful for students was Matt Reagan’s “free to fail” talk.
Always thankful for your partnership,
Nick and Katie
