Rena's Story

This month's story is from Rena. We are so grateful for collegiate ministers like Rena who are creatively funded to minister to college students in her context. Many of you serve like Rena doing whatever it takes to reach this emerging generation for Jesus. Keep up the good work and keep living the God story among this generation! Pray for Rena and her ministry among college students. Here's Rena's story.....

REPORTING ON NEW ORLEANS
I was amazed that 6 months later the hard hit New Orleans and Mississippi area still looks like a War Zone. I'm still not able to wrap my brain around the devastation that has occurred. While in New Orleans we assisted people in Mudding out houses and Tree Removal. Still 6 months later there is work to be done. Some of the areas are like ghost towns. It was mysteriously quite for miles and miles because there were no people living in the Neighborhoods. Houses still stand with everything inside turned upside down. Trees are still toppled onto houses and piles of rubble stand several feet high with debris
We had the opportunity to serve a wide variety of people. We saw the wealthy and the poor in the same situation. No matter their circumstance they are all people who deserve to be helped and loved. I've heard numerous people asking, "Why go to New Orleans and Help?" "Those people got what they deserved." When I reflect back to the servant attitude of Jesus he never overlooked any of the people that were in need. He simply walked along side of them and met them where they were. He loved them unconditionally. As we served the people in New Orleans there where times when I asked myself, "Why am I helping these people?" And then I was reminded “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus (Phil.2.5) Today I read, "That if you are not wearing a servant's towel kneeling at the feet of others, you are in the wrong place." Wow, this statement hit me like a ton of bricks. I know there were times this past week that I did not wear the servant’s towel. My heart and attitude were displaced because of my lack of focus and trust in Christ. I've been asking myself what I learned from this trip and now I think I know.

It is so easy to become callused and hardened by our surroundings. At times I found myself becoming callused and hardened by the things I saw around me in New Orleans. One more house to gut out. One more tree to cut down. More stuff to throw on a pile of rubble. Then another gentle reminder....Deuteronomy 15: 7-8 says, "If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs." As I continue to ask Christ to soften my heart to the hurts and needs of others, It is my pray that you would do the same. Ask Christ today for an opportunity to serve someone around you. Be willing and ready to wear the servants towel and kneel at the feet of others and let your attitude reflect that of Christ Jesus.

An evangelistic story:
The passing of the torch: During to 2004-2005 school years our NCM student leadership team had a vision of hosting a Jazz & Coffee House event on campus. As they tried to plan this event road blocks were facing us left and right. We faced opposition from administration about sharing the gospel, we had funding problems, we lacked a Jazz band, and list goes on and on. With much sadness and disappointment we had to call off the Jazz and Coffee House event. I encouraged the CBC NCM 2004-2005 Leadership to pray for the next leadership team to move forward and carry out this event for the next school year. As the 2005-2006 school year began there was already talk of the Jazz and Coffee House event. Months went by and before long the first quarter of school was over. Arriving back from Christmas break our student leadership was excited about the ministry that would take place the 2nd quarter of school. They quickly started talking and planning for NCM to host the 1st annual Jazz & Coffee House event. Permission, paper work and money, had to be in place for this event to happen on campus. Jacob and Kayla, two of our student Leaders worked hard for 2 months to put this event together. To our surprise the CBC administration was on board with this event and encouraged us to move forward.

The passing of the torch had occurred. The ideas of one NCM leadership team had been passed on to the next. We knew that Christ had gone before us this time and bridged the gap for this event to happen. This time we were not running into road blocks left and right but instead it seemed as though the path had been paved for us.
Jacob, our NCM team leader, approached the ASB faculty member and shared our vision for the night. We told her that we would be sharing about Christ at this event. This lady has come so far since the 2004-2005 year. In the past she said there was no way we could do this and share Christ. Wow, the Lord seems to be changing her heart. This year she said, “You are a Christian Club, I would expect that you would share about your faith.” That is 360 degree turn around from last year. Everything was coming together. Now that permission was granted, funding, and a jazz band were next in line. Wouldn’t you know it, this year we had a guy in our NCM group that had a jazz band. And can you believe we got $400 from the school to help host this event. We were able to provide not only good Jazz music, but also free food and free espresso’s drinks! I could not believe things were falling into place so well. Our students were so excited about this night. The school provided us with amazing publicity posters that advertised the event and the outdoor reader board advertised to the commuters driving by. James Sanders daughter, Jodie, made two amazing posters that were placed on the stage where the Jazz band would perform. On March 2nd we were ready to kick off the Big Night. We met together the week before to make sure everything was ready. Our students prayer walked the campus and met together in small groups to pray for this night.
The Big Night: We met together a few hours before to decorate and pray for the night. With the newly renovated Student Center, the place looked like a real Coffee House and Jazz Club. We asked our students to mix and mingle with the people that would attend. We also encouraged students to look for opportunities to share Christ with people and build new relationships.

This was the Schedule for the night!

7:OO: KICK US OFF BAND!

7:15ISH: RACHEL WELCOME/ SONG COMBO SET

7:40ISH:RACHEL/ POEM

7:50ISH MORE JAZZ

8:10ISH: JACOB POEM&READING

8:20ISH: MORE JAZZ

8:45ISH: FINAL WORDS

8:55ISH: LAST BIT O’ JAZZ

At the end of the night we had served 54 free espresso drinks and had the presence of 110-120 people in attendance. Christ exceeded our expectation by far. We were amazed at the response from the campus community and even some people in the community. One of the exciting things for me was to pass the word onto the 2004-2005 leadership that there vision of a Jazz Coffee House night had happen. Although some of them have moved onto other campuses in the Northwest is was their vision and dreams that help make this event possible for the 2005-2006 NCM Leadership team. We are hoping to make this an annual event for NCM at the campus of CBC. We are so thankful to the Lord that He was in complete control of this event. It is our pray that He will continue to use CBC NCM to reach the lost on our college campus.