Meanwhile, in non-spy-land, I've been busy and loving it. Last week I had the opportunity to take a mini-vacation to Orlando to see my old college roommate Lindsey. We went to Universal Studios and had a great time being Harry Potter nerds together. I took a bus to and from Orlando, and the bus driver tried to convince me that I was too old for Harry Potter. People everywhere, you are never too old for Harry Potter.
Putting my nerdiness aside, I have also been doing campus ministry, promise. This last week has been particularly busy. For example, I've read the first part of "Permanent Revolution", contacted about 100 students via Facebook, and called about 100 churches in Florida. Let me give you some more details!
"Permanent Revolution" is an excellent book, albeit a difficult read for me. I really appreciate its commentary on Ephesians 4:1-16, focusing on verses 11-12. "He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ." Authors Alan Hirsch and Tim Catchim point out that Ephesians is not intended to be read only by clergy; it is meant for laity. It is a book for everyone. They use the acronym "APEST" (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, Teacher) to explain that everyone has particular gifts that God intends to use for the expansion of his kingdom. If you're interested in this, you can check out the website FiveFoldSurvey.com and find out what your base gift is. Surprisingly, according to the survey, I have two base gifts: Shepherd and Teacher.
Each year, University Lutheran is given a list of Florida State students who self-designate themselves as "Lutheran" on their application forms. We recently acquired this list for the students taking summer classes, and Katie and I got right to work. We went through the students on the list one-by-one and did our best to find them on Facebook and send them a simple message in an attempt to connect them with University Lutheran's campus ministry.
In addition to University Lutheran contacting students directly, there is another way for students to get connected. LCMS-U attempts to help students connect with campus ministries near them wherever they go to school. One of my jobs this week has been to call Florida churches (because if Katie and I were expected to call all the churches in all the states, we would go mad) and tell them about the LCMS-U website, lcms.org/lcmsu. If they have students going to college in the fall, they can enter their information on the website and it will be sent to the campus ministry nearest them. It's an easy way for students to get connected. Connecting with the churches has proved to be not so easy; I've left a lot of voicemails and a lot of messages with secretaries! However, there have been those few exciting times when I've actually talked to the church's youth leader or pastor and led them through the process on the website. It's a great feeling to know that I may have contributed to a college student retaining his or her faith in college.
That's all I've got this week, friends! I hope you enjoyed reading about my random escapades. I've included a few pictures from Universal Studios.
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