Finally here!

I feel like I have so much to say so bear with me! I know I have somewhat explained to some people what we are going to be doing, but I feel like a lot of people don’t really know, so I’ll start with that. Campus Outreach, the ministry that I am here with started at Samford University. It has now spread to college campuses all over the United States. But it has also spread to Australia. It is in Brisbane, Australia which is in Queensland. Campus Outreach Australia has since planted a Campus Outreach in New Zealand as well. We had been told that they were looking to start one in Sydney which is why they were sending a team there this summer. But we didn’t really know much more than that. After getting down here, we have been going through orientation with the Campus Outreach Australia director named Rich. We learned that their mission was to spread to other campuses in Australia. In 2004 they visioned to have three CCP teams going to Australia in 2010. That is this summer and we have 3 teams going to Armidale, Brisbane, and Sydney! It’s amazing because we usually only have 1 CCP team each summer. It’s great to feel like we are a part of what God is doing over here in Australia. With that said, Rich really wants us to investigate our college campus here in Sydney. He wants us to develop a plan as to how ministry would work here in Sydney. There are essentially three college campuses (although they call them universities here. Colleges are like their dorms). I have been assigned to the University of Sydney. So we will be going there two or three days a week and go to another campus one day a week. We are also partnering with another ministry while we are here. Jim Jung is a Korean American who was commissioned by Missions of the World to Australia about 3 or 4 years ago. He has helped to plant a church while also has started a ministry called Students Outreach to the World on each of these 3 campuses. However, it is all Asian because of the high Asian population. We are partnering with them so that we can learn about the campuses while also meeting students on campus to get them plugged in there. So that’s a little bit of what we will be doing.

The dynamics of Christianity and of the church is way different here than it is in Bible Belt, America. Even though I had been told that, it is definitely obvious even from the minute we flew into Australia. As we were riding a bus at the Brisbane airport to be taken to our next flight to Sydney, I overheard a conversation in which two Aussies were talking and then I heard one of them say something like, “It must have been a Christian.” When we were walking around the harbor, we decided to take a group picture. A photographer asked if we would like a professional photograph, and we told him no thanks and he responds…”I thought that since you were Christians you would have high standards.” Our leader Matt got stopped going through customs at the Brisbane airport because he had written “Minister” on his card as his occupation. Basically the man asked him if he had come here to work and told him that Australia has enough ministers and doesn’t need anymore. He basically told him he couldn’t work here and couldn’t do anything that an Australian could. But IN fact, I was recently told a statistic that about 2.5% of those in Sydney or maybe it’s all of Australia claim to be born again Christians when Indonesia has about 10%. So the problem here is not nominalism at all. It’s that they don’t believe in their need for a Savior. If you talk to them about Christianity, they may agree with everything you say, but it still doesn’t matter to them.

We start going on campuses Monday. I’m really excited about it but naturally really nervous. So pray that we would get in good conversation and quickly learn the dynamics of the campus.

Just a little of what we have been doing…we have really just been going through orientation. There is a lot of Thai food so we have gone there, and we went to like probably the only Mexican food restaurant today. We went to the market today and it was definitely an experience. I’m excited about eating some really fresh food. And we have been running a little bit in the mornings. This morning we ran to the Sydney Opera House. It is so pretty here! Thanks so much for your prayers! I’ll try to update again soon after we get on campus and meet some people.

The Big Day

Well, tomorrow is the big day! I'm kind of nervous, but I don't think it's really going to hit me until I get on the plane. I said I would update with more prayer requests, but honestly I don't know anything more specific than what I already said. But just pray for safe travel and opportunities to meet college students. I'll try to update as soon as I can when we make it there and continue to add prayer requests as they come up! Thanks for everything guys!

One week to go!

"In direct contradiction to the American dream, God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face to face with their need for him. In the process he powerfully demonstrates his ability to provide everything his people need in ways they could never have mustered up or imagined. And in the end, he makes much of his own name." -David Platt

This quote comes from chapter 3 of David Platt's new book Radical. This chapter is titled "The Importance of relying on God's Power." Seems a little ironic huh? Why would someone have to write a chapter on the importance of relying on the infinite God's power? Why would we have to read it, and yet we still won't get it. Shouldn't we already know the importance of it? All we have to do is look around us at everything that God has created to see his glory and power. But we all too often think our own power is sufficent. I am all too often guilty of this. I say that I believe in the Lord's immeasurable power, but my actions say otherwise. And so God keeps putting us in situations where we are forced to fall on our faces before God and admit our utter dependency on Him-but only after we have exhausted all efforts and resources of our own.

I like to have a plan. I like to be in control of my life. Really, who doesn't? I'm quickly leanring that God's plan doesn't always look like mine. As I venture into a different country, I wonder if I will be a coward in sharing the Gospel. I, myself, do not have the power to do this, but the Lord has equipped us with the Holy Spirit to lead us. He has given us his power. My prayer this summer is that the Lord would use me in ways I never knew possible--that he would use me so much that I couldn't help but attribute all of it to his glorious name.

Please join me in praying for the Aussies--that the Lord would break down any walls in their hearts toward the Gospel. Pray for me and my team that we would be bold--that the Gospel would be so much of who we are that we would jump at any opportunity to share what has so deeply changed our lives. Also, please pray for support to come in. I am still lacking about $1350 to go on my personal goal, and others are still lacking as well. The Lord works on his own time schedule, so pray he would provide and display his glory!

I'll update before we leave next Monday with more specific prayer requests so check back! Thanks guys!