Newsletter

Foreword:

Hello everyone!  I had planned to send out this newsletter at the end of January as a special ‘double issue’ covering the end of last year (December) and the beginning of this year (January).  Unfortunately, several unexpected things (including praying and seeking money for Perspectives early this month) set me back a bit!  I will still send out February’s newsletter near the end of February, but I will likely make it shorter since this one is so long!  I apologize for the delay, and I thank you for your continued prayers for me as a missionary and for Unite as a ministry!

Newsletter:

God seems to often work through the unexpected.  As those of you in Northwestern Kansas know, this New Year’s Eve day brought in a LOT of snow—more than had originally been expected.  My girlfriend, Tella, and I were going to head up to Plainville with some friends to bring in the New Year.  With several inches of snow on the ground and more falling, we had to change plans and stay in Hays.

While we were running out to get some supplies at Wal-Mart, we passed someone walking down Main Street.  Tella recognized the person as Martha, one of the women from our Monday morning small group this last semester.  The snow was too deep to turn around directly, so we looped around a block and pulled up next to her and offered her a ride.  As it turned out, she was on her way to a special evening mass at her church; we were able to give her a ride to her service and time our shopping so that we could pick her up, too.  When we picked her up, she surprised us by inviting us in for dinner. 

We were a little unsure whether or not to accept—we had some plans for later that evening and didn’t know when everything was going to happen, but we felt like we had enough time, so we went in and joined her for supper.  While she was heating up food, I headed outside and started shoveling off her driveway.  As I was shoveling, I began to reflect about how well that evening was working out from entirely unplanned and unexpected events; even though everything came up by surprise, we each had something that could serve the other well.  Tella and I had an already-warmed up car, and we were already driving around.  We were able to use that as a blessing to Martha.  She had spare warm food and time for conversation.  That was a blessing to us.  I had the time while the ladies talked to take care of her driveway, and Martha had experience and wisdom to share when we talked over supper later.  It just seemed to jump out at me that God really did build all of us so that we could be blessed and bless one another in turn.  All we have to do is seek to genuinely love one another in whatever situation arises, and we can experience much of the community that scripture indicates God built us for.

As the night wore on, we ate our food and began a series of very enjoyable discussions.  One of the more intriguing was over an old Volga German tradition that Martha could remember that she said was called ‘winching’ (probably a form of a German word ‘Wunschen’).  Apparently, when she was little, it was common custom to go out on New Year’s Day and every day for the next week or so and ‘wunsch’.  This involved knocking on the door of close friends and family and giving them a traditional blessing in German to have a good New Year.  In response, the friend or family member would thank those ‘wunsching’ and give them alcohol (usually beer or spirits), unless the person giving the blessing was younger, in which case they would be given money.  This wasn’t meant to be completed in one night, but was done over the course of the first week of the New Year until a person had greeted and blessed all of their family, friends, and loved ones in the region.

I was immediately enamored with this tradition for a few reasons.  One was simply that it was cool—I had never heard of such a tradition, and I tend to find history and traditions to be somewhat fascinating.  It also just sounded like a fun thing to do—kind of like Halloween without the costumes but with blessings instead of tricks and with better gifts than just candy.  More importantly though, I thought that it was really impressive how this and many other traditions (such as Christmas caroling) that are more common to the older generations were truly designed to form and reinforce a broader sense of community.  Each one of these traditions made people think more about extended family and friends, spend more time with them, and even bless them during holiday times.

It seems to me that at times my generation’s society works against genuine community—especially broad, genuine community; we often have small groups of friends but find it hard to be a legitimate part of a bigger community.  While there are many factors that lead to this, it often boils down to my generation just being ‘too busy’ in our minds for broad community.  I can tell you from scheduling my ministry’s small groups and leadership meetings that it is NOT easy to find times that fit everyone’s schedule—between work, school, family, obligations, and other priorities most schedules are pretty packed.  Often when we do gather for things like ‘small group’, it initially takes a fair amount of time for us to quiet down from our crazy days enough to listen to others and to God.  I am not speaking as one who is not overly busy himself—I speak as one who is often himself too busy.  With everything going on it is just so easy to do.  The reason that I bring this up, though, is not to simply condemn busy-ness or exhort us all to open up our schedules more (though that could be a good idea for some of us, including me), but to point out that in today’s society we have to make community—especially broad, encompassing, and loving community—a high priority if it is ever to happen at all.  It is very easy to underestimate the importance of community to our health and spiritual lives, but we all should look very closely at scripture and especially at Christ’s words before we dismiss community as not very important.

To truly see the importance of community, I think we have to look at God’s heart and his plan from the beginning.  In Genesis 1:26-27 we see that we are created in God’s image--it says male and female they created us.  In their image, they created us (some translations of the Bible say He created them, but the Hebrew word ‘Elohim’ used for God is plural, not singular).  This is interesting—that the trinity would create us (plural) in their (plural) image.  This makes sense on several levels.  Love is only fully existent with at least two—a person loving and a person to receive love.  A person who loves but doesn’t have a person to receive their love is not able to fully express love.  Also, a person to be loved who does not have anyone to love them is not a full expression of love.  Only when one person can love another is love fully expressed (and it is even more fully expressed when it is mutual).  The Bible teaches that God is love (1 John 4:8).  We just mentioned that love doesn’t fully exist with just one—and God isn’t just one!  There are three—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Well that makes sense then that they together in community are God, since God is love.  It also makes sense that they created us (male and female) in their image—plural.  We were meant to be in loving community from the very beginning, and since love (and God is love) is part of that, we were meant to be in community with God from the very beginning.  Once we sinned, we were unable to fully receive God’s love (as evidenced when Adam and Eve ran away and hid from God).  Our guilt and shame kept us from receiving it as we once did, and community was broken in part.  At that time, God began a plan to restore us to Him and to the love and community that we were built for.  In Genesis 12:1-3 it states that

Abraham and his family were blessed to be a blessing and that ultimately the whole earth would be blessed through them.  This came to fruition when Christ, descendant of Abraham, came and dealt with our sin and its separating guilt and shame in full on the cross, so that we could again freely receive God’s love and be in community with Him and others.  This isn’t just abstract theology.  Let me say that again, Jesus came so that we could be rectified with the Father and live again in community with God and with others!  If His very purpose was to restore us to community with God and others, then how high an emphasis should broad, loving community be in our real lives?  Does this reality translate into how we live as Christians and how highly we emphasize living as a loving community to all others?

Jesus highlights ways to really love others and live in community in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-8), and He reinforces its importance when He says that all the law and the prophets can be summed up in ‘love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, strength and mind and love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37-39).  He even teaches the disciples how to do this—washing their feet and commanding them to love one another as He has loved them right before He went to the cross (John 13).  His last fully recorded prayer on earth is that all believers might be one as He and the Father are one (John 17).  If that isn’t a mind-blowing concept, I don’t know what is!  That Jesus would pray that we have the same unity and oneness that God the Father and Jesus the Son share!  Wow.  All of this is later followed by a bunch of New Testament letters that constantly exhort believers to love one another, to not give up the habit of meeting, to seek to be one in the Spirit and one in love.  Again and again it emphasizes ideas of unity, loving one another, and loving others who are not believers.  We are repeatedly told as a community to care for widows, orphans, and the foreigner among us.  Everywhere a loving, broad, Bible-following community is emphasized.  In sharp contrast to how Christianity is often presented in our era (as a religion centered on helping individuals in their separate, private lives ‘not sin’ and do good things), the Bible shows that Christianity is centered on God’s heart as He passionately does what is necessary to save those He loves and restore them to loving community with Him and others.  We then, as a community, are challenged to reach out and love all others—from those whom society does not care for to even our enemies.  In this love, we are challenged to become one with God and with others.  What a high calling!  What a high emphasis broad, loving community should have in our lives!

This leads me to my New Year’s challenge (and it is still early in the New Year, so feel free to take it up even though we are in February)!  I challenge myself, and I invite you to join me by challenging yourselves, to seek to live actively for Christ and the Kingdom this year NOT by first emphasizing moral purity (not that I am saying I WON’T seek to be morally pure—just saying that I don’t want ‘not sinning’ to be my primary focus), but instead by emphasizing looking for opportunities to love others genuinely and to be in community with others genuinely.  May this generation take a lesson from the older generation in building broad, loving community!  May we UNITE this year in the Spirit and in Love by actively seeking to go out of our way to love and bless others!  Let’s pray Jesus’ final prayer for us and seek to be one with the One who came to restore community!

Note: Below we have information on various outreach projects along with ways that you can pray for Biblical community in them.  You are also welcome to become involved in them directly!  Please keep us in your prayers, and PLEASE feel free to send me prayer requests, too!

More information about all of these outreach projects is available at www.UniteHays.com.

Unite Game Night and Common Grounds Coffee House

Pray that our barista team can pray and be Biblical peacemakers whenever it is necessary.  Pray that the churches would send out more people to get to know the college students and befriend them.

Get Plugged In

Pray that more churches get involved in this day in a bigger way.  Each church is invited to campus this day to greet the incoming Fort Hays State University students in love and to care for them.  Some have in past given care packages, food, coffee, and more; may God use this to reach out to campus!

Nomads Trip

Pray that God use the trip to help those who go from various churches to bond in the Spirit and in Love.

Unite Small Groups

Pray that we can open up and share and that God help us see Him as we study His Word.  Pray that more Christians would join these small groups to interact with college students.

Juarez Mission Trip

Pray that God help those who go from various churches to bond in the Spirit and in love; pray that we bond with those in Juarez, Oklahoma City, and Hays.  May we see more opportunities to reach out in love in our home communities!

[alt]

May God help those who plan and help with [alt] to bond as believers as we reach out to provide an alternative event to the post-Oktoberfest partying in Hays, Kansas.

Here are some game night photos from last Friday!  Our small groups are also up and running, and we are preparing for some upcoming things this semester, this summer, and next semester!  Please keep God's work out here and our ministry in your prayers!  :)

Recent Game Night Photos

Here are some recent game night photos!  Please keep this Friday night alternative to the bar scene in your prayers.  The first two weeks that we have been back in operation since school has started have been quite good; the first one was short (ended around 2:00 a.m.), and the second one lasted until almost 5:00 a.m.!  Both nights were quite fun, and I was blessed to have some great conversations with students who are back for the semester.  Thanks again for your prayers!  :)

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST/ASSISTANCE REQUEST

Hello everyone!  I have a time-sensitive prayer request and request for assistance! 

   When I began my journey as an in-state missionary, God greatly used some of the missionaries and other speakers who weekly taught the Hays ‘Perspectives on the Christian World Movement’ class to prod me.  This class is taught by a number of experts in their field who travel on a circuit around the U.S. so that each place they speak can divide out the cost of having them come.  As such, participants in the class are taught by a different speaker every week as they go through a deeply powerful experience that challenges their perspectives on how God has moved throughout human history.  It is a rare experience, and one that I would recommend anyone consider taking.

   This year the Hays class is ten students short of the required amount to financially make it—though they have already had two weeks of class, they are looking at having to close their doors, refund money and give up on what could be a very powerful semester for the college students and private individuals who are currently taking the class (for credit, for audit, or just for personal growth).  They need either $2,000 or ten students to allow for the class to happen, and they need it immediately.  First, I ask you to PLEASE PRAY that God provide the individuals AND/OR the money to make the class happen this semester.  Second, I am going out over the next few days to try and get corporate and private sponsors to allow the class to financially happen this year—if you are willing to either make a one-time, tax-deductible donation to make the class happen OR if you are willing to TAKE the Perspectives class yourself this year and gain from the epic experience (it may not be offered again in future years here), then PLEASE contact me AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so that I can give you instructions to route your donation or enroll for the course.  Please keep in mind that a small donation of $5, $10, or $20 can SUBSTANTIALLY help (if everyone on my Unite email list gave $20, the class would already be saved).  I will be putting my money where my mouth is and personally financially supporting this class, myself.  If you join me in this, I think that God will do a cool thing through our efforts as a body of believers.  Please consider contributing or letting me know if an employer or your church would be willing to contribute.

   These will be an intense several days as we pray and see how God provides for this course.  Please pray with me, and please consider donating OR enrolling!  Thank you sincerely for your prayers and help!

   In Christ,

   Brandon

Contact me by phone: 785-259-2539

Contact me by email: Brandon.Nimz@gmail.com or UniteEph4.1.16@gmail.com

Sabbath Thoughts...

It’s funny how easy it is to miss resting—even when I have ‘down time’.  It seems that my mind is often constantly busy with different ministry things, interpersonal things, things that need to get done for ministry events and the dojo, things that need done at home or in my life in general, and more besides….  Often even when I am doing things that could be restful, my mind is pretty occupied.  It’s not like it is necessarily stressful—in fact, most of the time I enjoy the things I am doing and the things that I am thinking about.  It is just very different from truly stopping—and truly resting.

When I truly stop and rest, I do not think about anything that I need to do or let there even be a tentative schedule in my head.  I treat it much as I did when I was a young kid and had an evening free—I did not think through what I had left to do on ‘back burner’; I did not worry about tomorrow or what needed done tomorrow; I did not even worry about things that I could do or ‘should’ do that day.  I just rested and enjoyed the moment—savoring all of the little things around me and enjoying them.

Tonight, as I rested in my living room, different things would stick out to me.  The old couch that I was resting on is definitely part of a bachelor pad with four guys living in it; it is old and not super ‘stylish’, but when I stop it is fascinating to look at.  It has designs of farmhouses, waterwheels, and leaves in it along with certain fibers that make parts appear shiny…  It must have been a fine achievement for the artist, designers, and workers who built it in its original day.  The padding that is heavily worn still works and makes it comfortable to lie on as warm air from the heater blows over my feet.  There are actually so many interesting little things in my house, all designed to please the person who is using them or looking at them that I rush past or use without noticing during my daily rush to ‘do things.’  I miss the intricate carvings in the end-table made to wow guests, the artistry and design that went into the guitar poster on the wall, the work that had to go into crafting and finishing all of the wood in the house for it to look good for those who lived there…  There is so much that is literally fashioned expressly to be appreciated that I just don’t take the time to stop and appreciate because of my pace of life.  Making the time to stop and appreciate and enjoy all of these things at least once a week (on my Sabbath) actually helps me be more thankful to God and His providence.  What crazy things!  I have clothes that are comfortable, food that is chilled but hat I can heat, water that I can flavor as tea or chocolate or any number of other things.  In my house I have cheeses, crustaceans, and canned vegetables—a tremendous variety of food to choose from.  Our society has given us so many little pleasures that I almost never TRULY stop and notice when I am ‘rushing’…  Stopping and appreciating them fully as I partake in them (while resting) is good medicine for me—emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  It adjusts my speed and my attitude and makes me look at things through a different lens and perspective; it is a lens and perspective that is at once more natural to me, and also something almost foreign because I usually don’t take time to operate in this mode.  What an interesting thing, rest is.  What an important part of life…

It is odd, but resting is actually a lot of work for me, at first.  My mind doesn’t want to shut down, my sense of urgency and pace wants me to use this ‘free time’ to ‘catch up’ on several little tasks so that I can rest more easily by not having to remember to get them done—but if I do that I will ultimately never truly slow down into rest…  I often have to pray and ask God to help me to let go of things into His hands (which I need to do anyway), because by focusing on ‘letting go’ I continue ‘focusing’ and don’t actually let go.  Once there, I have to just let rest happen naturally and naturally start appreciating all of the cool little things around me.  It’s not that I just lay there like a bump for hours on end necessarily; rather, whatever I do once my mind is in ‘rest mode’, I try to do appreciating every part of it and being thankful for every part of it—listening to my coffee machine percolate and being amazed by how good the coffee smells and tastes and how warm it is in the mug in my hands, enjoying the texture and flavor of cheddar cheese as I have a small afternoon snack, enjoying the comforts that allow me to read my book or rest with my girlfriend, thanking God for the Kansas wind and brisk air and all of the life around me when I am outside…  It varies, but the part that is the same to me is that when I truly STOP, then I can truly start resting, listening to God, and letting God refill me—which I desperately need.

I hope and pray during this busy Christmas season that we can all force in the time to genuinely rest as God commanded in the Old Testament—and that we continue to stop and rest throughout the year.  Though it is increasingly hard in our society, I think we need to rediscover and re-initiate the lifestyle of healthy balance and include genuine rest.  Without it, I think that we lose much of the beauty, joy, and perspective that God intends for us…

Thank God for another good Sabbath.  :)

Blessings, Meditation

This morning's early church prayer and meditation class (http://aikidoofnorthwestkansas.com/index.php/schedule/additional-opportunities/prayer-meditation) was particularly good.  We had a very cool new person join us, and the atmosphere was conducive to interactions with God as usual.  I substantially enjoyed the 'Examen' meditation; my consolation (life-giving memory from the week) reminded me of some of my purpose in Christ, and my desolation (life-draining memory from the week) taught me that I cannot easily hear God when my pride feels challenged and my emotions get high.  It was a good reminder of my need to really slow down in such instances and pray, trusting God to answer.

Perhaps what was even more cool was hearing how Aikido has been good for some of the youth who have been taking it and having a chance to hear about some of the families who have been taking it chatting about and working on Aikido together.  It brings my heart great joy that we can help families enjoy things together and help communities form--both things that seem very important to God, Biblically.  I also feel that the idea of forming community and working together towards common, Godly purposes is a huge concept throughout the New Testament.  It is exciting to see that lived out a bit.  Beyond that, I have just been feeling very blessed all day in many little ways.

Thank God for a great birthday and exciting life!

November Newsletter and Prayer Requests

What does it take to make a very easy-going person like me truly upset?  In all honesty, I’m not quite sure, but partially due to all of the loud noise over elections and partially due to some recent events on campus, the prevalence and volume of the ‘worldly’ worldview often presented unopposed at our university is getting pretty close.

What do I mean by ‘worldly’ worldview?  Well, that would be hard to fully explain in one short newsletter, but in general I mean a way of looking at life that is based not in God or scripture but in the popular culture of our generation and our country in particular.  On campus it has several strongholds.  One of the most vocal strongholds lately has been what I would call the ‘tolerance’ worldview.  The ‘tolerance’ worldview would say that it’s ok for any person to believe what they believe and that they should also agree that it’s totally ok for me to believe what I believe.  The worldview would say that we should tolerate any and all beliefs and actions and cannot make any statement about what is right or wrong ‘at large’ or else we being judgmental and are bigoted.

One of the main problems with this worldview is that it sharply contradicts itself.  It claims that we should accept any worldview and allow anything, yet if we REALLY accept and allow anything, that also means that we should be totally ok with a bigot being a bigot, or a racist being a racist, or a chauvinist being a chauvinist, and so forth.  However, the supposed ‘tolerance’ worldview is actually extremely intolerant of those categories and quite a few others, as well.  It has a very set agenda that includes subverting other worldviews that have statements about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and calling them bigoted and judgmental WHILE MAKING STATEMENTS ITSELF about ‘right’ by saying that everything must be ok (everything EXCEPT any of those other worldviews).  In the end, the ‘tolerance’ worldview is very intolerant of quite a bit, but it hides behind a smokescreen that gives it great protection by immediately accusing anyone who disagrees with it of intolerance, bigotry, judgment, discrimination, and hate.

Interestingly enough, while I must point out that the ‘tolerance’ worldview is very intolerant to clarify that it is as discriminatory as any other worldview and thus on only equal footing, I must also point out that I don’t believe ‘intolerance’ is bad.  What?  ‘How can intolerance ever be GOOD?’ some may ask.  Well, I would hope all of those who read this newsletter do not tolerate rape, torture, murder, and quite a few other activities.  To broad tolerance statements like ‘we should respect all religions’, I would point out that religions exist that require human sacrifice, cannibalism, rape, giving up daughters to any passers-by until the daughters become pregnant, and many other practices that I do not believe should be tolerated or respected.  The ‘tolerance’ worldview has made words like intolerance and discrimination into extremely negative words that have dirty connotations, but being intolerant of behaviors is critical to any society.

Now I will make another statement that may cause issue; I feel that the ‘tolerance’ worldview has often seeped its way into the church to ill effect, and I feel that scripture makes it quite clear that Jesus himself was intolerant.  What?!  How can I say that Jesus was intolerant?  Well I can say it based on his interactions with the Pharisees, among other things.  He seems to be extremely intolerant of their way of adding to scripture and of altering scriptures’ interpretations to fit their own ends.  He calls them things like ‘sons of their father the devil’, ‘vipers’, and a ‘brood of snakes’.  Those words would certainly not indicate tolerance or acceptance.

In specific, Christ takes a great deal of time in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 showing the letter of the Law and how the Pharisees sought to live that out verses the Spirit behind the Law and how that lifestyle looks.  He takes great pains to paint a picture of the Spirit behind the Law.  He indicates that it is not enough to merely abstain from murder, but that we should seek to see through eyes of love when angry and make peace; He teaches that adultery goes into the internal realm of our heart and how we look at people and that change needs to take place there, that commitment is lifelong and giving our words value comes from integrity in our hearts, that love perseveres through wrongs done to it and seeks to care even for enemies.  He illustrates that we live out this spirit of the law not for praise on this earth but because it is the way of life in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and to come.  In this He highlights right and wrong heart attitudes over giving to the poor, communicating with God through prayer and fasting, worrying about the temporal things of the world verses the eternal things of the Kingdom of Heaven, judging others in self-righteousness verses seeing wrong and helping them in a spirit of compassion, and many other things.  At the end of the sermon on the way down the mountain, He lives out this spirit when he approaches a leper and touches him, healing him. 

The leper would have been ‘unclean’ in the eyes of the Jews of the day, and they would have thought that touching the leper would make Jesus ‘unclean’.  It would also have likely been believed that this leper was unclean because of his own sin; if Jesus just said that the Pharisees wouldn’t make it into the Kingdom of Heaven, many in the crowd who saw through the worldview of the day would have said that this man never would.  Yet in front of the crowd, Jesus lived out the spirit of the law by showing compassion, even touching the man against the views of society, and healing him.  He then tells this man to go and give the sacrifice at the temple for those cured of leprosy so everyone would have proof of his healing—restoring his honor and place in the society; those words probably greatly healed the heart of the leper and of much of the damage he had taken.  What an illustration of deep love!

I think it is very important to look at what Jesus did not tolerate in this sermon—living for our own accolades, worrying first about worldly possessions and worldly needs and thus not trusting God, just living up to the lowest, easiest interpretation of the law, and judging others without having first asked God to help us with our problems.  However, I think that it’s even more important to look at what Jesus did not tolerate in the status of this leper; He didn’t tolerate a lack of love and the idea that it was possible to live for God in a bustling society without loving others.  Without love, the heart of the perspective of the Spirit behind the law is missing.  That is a tragedy, and it should not be tolerated.

In prayer a local ministry leader and I are looking at having a forum within the next year on campus to not only challenge the unchallenged ‘tolerance’ and ‘worldly’ worldviews that are often taught, but also to show this often unexpressed worldview of Christ’s.  I do not know how it will come about or what it will look like, but I ask for your prayers for discernment in this and am excited about it.  :)

Please keep college students and local ministries in your prayers.  May the body of Christ continue to come together in ever greater numbers and quality to reach out to the world around it in love.  Please pray for God’s providence of financial partners for me in the Kingdom ministry here.  My number of supporters has not decreased, but the income of some has so my monthly support will likely drop very soon.  If you or someone you know is interested in partnering in outreach here, please contact me at 785-259-2539 or Brandon.Nimz@gmail.com.  Thank you for your prayers, friends.  Go with God!