Stories....

Steve - U of W
I had a very unique opportunity in April to be a part of some events that drew together multiple expressions of our ministry. I was invited by Jim Henderson to attend a special Prayer Breakfast with the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as part of the Seeds of Compassion event in Seattle. It was exciting to be in a fairly intimate audience with two Nobel Peace Prize recipients, who have each gone through sacrifice and suffering on behalf of others. Desmond Tutu’s spiritual formation was tangible, and very encouraging. At the table I was seated at, and the adjacent table, there were also a selection of old and new friends – and I realized that seven of them had been a part of our inter::mission experience this year at UW. It was great to share that time with people I value, and who have contributed to our ministry. Later that same day, there was an Off The Map event, which was also an invite-only thing, but this time I got to do a lot of the inviting. At that event, in addition to our NCM staff, I was able to see 4 PSBA church planters. Part of the evening included Sunil Sardar, who is the social/spiritual activist in India that we will be going to work with this summer. I was able to introduce our whole traveling team to Sunil and his wife, Pam, and as he spoke from the stage, the team was able to get a taste of the exciting adventure that awaits us.

Ryan - U of O
T is a friend of C’s that we have been praying for – for a while. I believe I mentioned before that he has begun coming to one of our small groups. After coming back from Spring Break, T came to church for the first time. I was a little shocked. He has continued to get more and more involved in NCM and appears to be moving back towards God. He has communicated that he used to be involved in his church and was very active but for some reason left all that behind when he came to college. (He said he does not even know why.) He told me that he feels he is coming back to God and that it feels good, but that he is not quite ready to jump in and commit yet. He did not really communicate a clear reason why he is not ready, but it is certainly exciting to see God working in his life over the last year and see where he is now! I praise God that he is working in T’s life and how is has worked through C to encourage T to take these steps! T did come to our leadership weekend and I think that helped him in his growth process!

Megan - Resonate
This month Activate has really taken off. We provided a survey for our congregants to let us know the countries/regions they are interested in learning about, serving in and a list of possible topics/world issues that they would like to be more informed about.

From those results we divided the semester into the topics: voodoo/witchcraft, genocide, refugees and the sex trade/human trafficking. For the few minutes we have at service we will intro the topic the first week, provide a more specific look the second week and then showcase a ministry trying to work the problem the third week. We also have prayer sheets for each topic so that the congregation can pray for the issue that week.

In addition we are having our first global issue movie night this Friday. Normally we would advertise to the campus but we need figure out the copyright issue. We are showing a movie about the little known and highly controversial Armenian genocide and then using it to launch a discussion into genocide – our next topic.

It has been neat to see people respond to our push to become informed so that we can pray well and so that we can then provide resources. Activates meetings are probably my favorite part of the week and definitely one of the ministries that is doing really well within Resonate.

For Kim and I it is really exciting to be a part of a church that finds this valuable. We are both so passionate about the world, traveling, other cultures and the church’s role in these global issues. You’d think we were on the west side or something ;) .....So many things have gone on in April its hard to pick and choose. I think my favorite part of ministry this month has been concerning the picking of our new Volunteer Staff. After Spring Break so many people were excited to take the next step in Resonate and to fully commit to calling Resonate their family and their home community. This new group (28 people!) has seen and experienced Resonate and they are stoked to be a part of it.

Lindsay - U of W
On Tuesday nights, we have an action-oriented Bible study called “That Thing We Do.” This quarter we have been going through the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5. We talk about one beatitude a week and think about ways that we can reach out to the people that are being mentioned. For example, one week this month we talked about those that hunger and thirst for righteousness. We brainstormed as a group about who those people are and what they look like in our culture. After talking about several different groups, we decided to bake brownies for a ministry in the U-District that serves the homeless. When we took the brownies to them that night, we were able to sit with them and learn about exactly what they are doing. It was a good time of us encouraging them and them encouraging us....Since some of us are going to India this summer, we did a social experiment that raised awareness of the caste system. At our table on campus, we set out three different types of candy bars: mini candy bars, full sized candy bars, and deluxe candy bars. We put out a sign that advertised that we had free candy. When a student came up to our table, we would ask their first name. If their name started with a consonant, we would give them a mini candy bar. If their name started with a vowel, they got a full sized candy bar. If their name started with a U, they got a deluxe candy bar. Some of the students that got mini candy bars got offended that they couldn't have a full sized one. We made a point to tell each student that like our candy caste system, the caste system of India is unfair and holds people back. There was also information available at our table about the caste system for those that were interested.

Josh -- WSU
Though all of that was great, my ministry highlight would come in the context of our Good Friday service. We used a building on campus to create a virtual walk through of the last day of Jesus. We took the Passion and cut it into five sections and had five screens, five projectors, and five sets of speakers playing the clips (each one about 7 minutes) throughout the walk through. In between each screen we placed ambiance and quotes of people throughout history who had spoke of Jesus and we wrote stories of eight key figures in the Jesus story and had those on display as well. (Judas, Pilot, Ciaphis, Peter, John, Mary, The Thief, Simon the Cross bearer) At the end of the walk through was a cross that was lifted up on a stage and suspended a few feet in the air. There were carpets on the ground at the foot of the cross as well as pillows and bread and juice for communion. About 120 people took part in the walk through and it was beautiful and heart breaking to watch as some people bowed at the cross and partook in communion and while others just walked out....Resonate Church had it’s first baptism service, we baptized 11 people, and that is my highlight this month.

The baptisms were fantastic and the energy in the room was electric, and my heart was so full as I watched the visual symbol of something that was happening deep in the heart of our people… things of old were passing away and being replaced with the things of new, the things of Christ. It was extremely meaningful for me personally because three of the guys getting baptized were from my village (small group) and I was able to walk with each one of them this semester through their struggles and questions and in the end see each of them want to take further steps to commit their lives to Christ.