The last couple
of months have been so jam-packed with ministry and with life that I’m not
quite sure where to start updating you all for prayer requests and just so that
you know what all is going on! I have
noticed a definite rhythm in my life that is tied to the university semester
cycle due to everything that I do with college students. Towards the end of the semester and the
beginning of the semester, my schedule becomes beyond overly full. Mid-semester and mid-summer (not counting
right before, during and after the mission trip), things are much calmer.
Right now we are
approaching the end of the semester, so we are in transition with our small
group Bible studies—picking different times and locations for the summer,
figuring out who is going and who is staying, and at times figuring out how to
help some of the students with moving, finding jobs, and other dilemmas that
come up at this time of year. It’s also
the heavy time to be serving students at Unite Game Night. This upcoming Friday, we will be offering a
Risk tournament for those who wish to de-stress as well as a study hall area in
which we will be serving free coffee and free orange soda for those who need
caffeine to help keep them going. We are
also expanding Common Grounds coffee house in its location inside of The Gamers
Guild. Besides adding signage, we’ve
added a couple of large storage racks for our ‘free store’, a ‘faith
opportunities’ space on the wall (where we can post opportunities like our
small group Bible studies, other ministries and their meeting times, national
day of prayer, festival of faith, etc.), and we are re-organizing the coffee
house for easier brewing methods since we have at least one community member
who wants trained as a barista to serve those who come to Unite Game Night.
I do want to
take a quick moment to update you about our ‘free store’ (part of Common
Grounds Coffee House). This is a new,
small ministry initiative that I hope will become something great to serve the
community as they become aware of it. It
is modeled after the ‘free store’ next to Joe’s Addiction Coffee House in
Valley Brook, Oklahoma. We have a sign
up that says ‘you can’t steal anything in a free store’, and we have shelves
loaded with quality items that individuals have given away for free to be used
by anyone who has need of them. It’s
kind of like a Goodwill or thrift store EXCEPT that nothing costs any money and
we don’t issue receipts to those who donate items. We also occasionally receive non-perishable
food donations, so it operates a bit as a food pantry. Though this may sound surprising, there are
families and individuals in Hays who don’t have enough expendable income to buy
some basic things. We could get into a
long discussion about why that is—some of them spend their income on items like
cigarettes and don’t end up with enough to eat, some spend money on TV but don’t
have dishes, some are illegally in the US and can’t find jobs that pay enough for
them to live on (this even includes some university students), and some have
just fallen on hard times due to medical bankruptcy, job issues, or other
reasons. Whatever the cause, however,
people do exist who have surprisingly basic needs in Hays, and it is my sincere
hope that we as a Christian community can help provide for some of them through
the free store here. I know full well
that many individuals in our community will not know that our small and almost
hidden free store exists, but I am hoping that over time its reputation will
grow among those in the community that need it. I also know that other churches, ministries,
and individuals also have programs to help those in need in our community, so
my goal is not to be the ‘destination’ for all in need in Hays, anyway. I only hope that our free store in Common
Grounds can be an additional and unique opportunity for some of the needs in
Hays that often fall through the cracks, and that we will be a visible part of
the body of believers to be used as Christ wishes to reach the hearts of those
He loves.
On a somewhat
related note, I mentioned Common Grounds when I presented about our Mission
Trip and The Welcoming Event to the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance a couple
of months ago. Afterwards, one of the
ECMA officers mentioned that I don’t have to be a pastor to be part of the ECMA.
As such, I decided that I’d come to the
next meeting and see if it felt right to come more often. I was very surprised at how good it was to be
there. Several ministry topics were
discussed that I found highly useful to know about, and I was also able to pass
on some of the details we discussed to some pertinent ministries in Hays. For instance, I learned that Festival of Faith
is pulling in a speaker from Wichita who speaks on living a life with no
regrets. Off and on over the years, I’ve
sat with a group of youth pastors who have brought speakers in to the school
district and to the university in Hays and who have been looking to bring in
another speaker. Since this fellow is
already coming in, I passed the info about it to the head of the youth pastor’s
group, and I hope that it may work out that they can convince him to stick
around and present in the school district, as well, and that we can promote his
presence at the Festival of Faith on campus.
As for prayer
requests—I’ve recently had two Aikido students of mine join one of our small group
Bible studies. They are excellent
individuals and friends, and I pray that the community there is a good
experience for them and for everyone involved. I also hope that I can work up the energy (and
the time) to figure out how to help incorporate Aikido principles that are also
Christian principles more clearly into our youth program and, particularly,
into our scholarship program at Aikido of Northwest Kansas. It is an unfortunate truth, but it is a truth—at
super-busy times like this month and last month, I barely have time to keep up
with what is already running; it is much harder to spend additional planning
time into coming up with high quality lessons that incorporate good moral
teachings for the youth classes that I teach and to clearly present
opportunities to our scholarship students that allow for growth. I don’t know where the time will/can come
from, yet it really should happen. Please
pray that I can better see how to more readily balance work time and rest in my
life during these busy cycles, and just in general. Though the work isn’t always ‘work’ in the
strictest sense (I enjoy meeting one-on-one with college students and leading
small group Bible studies), there are honestly weeks in my life right now that
I will have between 55 and 90 hours per weeks of scheduled time—not including
things that pop up in life. Today I had
to request not to meet with one of the individuals in my small group Bible
study just to be able to get this newsletter printed, sealed in envelopes and
mailed, and emailed out almost a week later than I intended to, and it is at
the top of my backlogged priority list because I believe in the power of your
prayers and believe that prayer is important to helping us out! Though these times thankfully don’t last too
long, it is very difficult to keep any type of balance at the beginning and end
of each semester, and if I will continue to do ministry long-term in this
community (which I intend to), then I need prayer for God to help me learn a
better balance of it. Your sincere
prayers in this matter are greatly appreciated!
Finally, I would
request prayers for those who are graduating and those who have graduated and
are still working in an area outside of their degrees. This has been a frequently recurring topic in
our small groups and in my one-on-one meetings. Many students are at a phase in life where
they better want to find where they can fit in/belong. Others are looking for a career or job that
they can find fulfillment in. Many are
looking for both. At times like these it
is very important to pray and ask God to help us discern where to go, but at times
like this we are often busy, hard-up for cash, and have trouble making time to
ask. Please pray that they hear His
voice and take the time to listen to it.
Thank you!
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