Welcoming Event

For those who were praying for our 'Welcoming Event' on September 1st on FHSU campus--thank you! Even though less churches and college ministries attended than on average, we had more numeric conversations with students and better quality conversations with students. A few stuck around our booth for over an hour, and between 100 and 300 came by (we didn't keep count, but we gave out 60 doughnuts and a large amount of freezer pops). North Oak Community Church gave out 150 meals in under an hour, Liberty Foursquare gave out over 150 items (largely laundry care kits), and Breathe Coffee House was out of coffee in under an hour. Next year, we look to do a better job of getting the word out to college ministries and churches AND encouraging each entity to bring more to give. Again, the core value of this event is welcoming students to Hays in the name of Christ with something tangible to show love--many of these students are not believers and some are hostile towards faith. Welcoming them in love, though, with no ulterior motive other than love and a sincere desire to welcome them to our community, is a great thing. Thanks again for your prayers!

Re-Centering

Yesterday was a bit of a spiritual jump start for me; the last few weeks have been a blur--to augment income and help support the ministry, I teach swimming lesson instructors and certify lifeguards for about one month and a half each year.  This means that my days start VERY early in the morning as I drive up to a few hours away to teach classes, then I come back to Hays and teach Aikido, see people at The Guild, and have ministry meetings and small groups etc.. and then repeat.  That schedule ended last week, with my last WSI class.

This week started out normally, which means that it felt very slow to me compared to what I have been experiencing.  I was catching up on things back here Monday and, somewhat, on Tuesday.  All the while I was looking forward to Wednesday, my first Sabbath day in some time.  It was very exciting.

The day started with a haircut, and then I met a missionary friend of mine who speaks little English for breakfast.  We had a very engaging talk that covered many subjects, but which centered on 'how does a person know if they are truly a Christian, when believers and non-believers alike will stumble and fall'.  It would take a long time to relate, but it ultimately made me relive experiences in my faith walk, journey down mental pathways that I hadn't used in a long time, and it stretched my brain a bit since it was all in Spanish.  Several times I understood what my friend meant, even if I didn't understand the exact words.  We had to use both languages to clarify that culpability for sin comes from the Holy Spirit but guilt, that which separates, does not.  We also had to clarify other points--that discipline from God shows He loves us and that we are walking with Him, that people who profess to be believers but who don't live it in any way (and who really are not disciples or followers of Christ that only have the same intellectual assent to Him that the demons have) are worse off than those who profess not to be believers but live godlier lives, and that God loves all and hollers at all of us to turn sin and separation--even when we choose not to hear.  It ranged into many other subjects, but ultimately it had the effect of getting my mind back on some good, concrete Christian discussions.

After that, I had a nice lunch meeting with another friend, a chiropractic appointment, and then a coffee meeting with yet someone else.  That coffee meeting was also very spiritual, and I greatly enjoyed my time in it.  I could feel the Holy Spirit moving in this person's life, and I felt Him moving in my own during parts of our discussion.  It came back to some similar subjects from the morning, but ranged into many other subjects, as well.  All in all, it had the impact of further centering my mind and spirit in Godly things.  That evening I spent with my wife and then with some friends on the Internet, but today I feel the results.  My focus is much greater towards Godly things; I am more open to that which He may have for me in my day--even if it disrupts other work that 'needs' to get done.  It left me available to sit for 20 minutes with an Aikido scholarship student this morning after our meeting to help her begin the path of doing important things now instead of when she's got enough other things out of the way to get to them.  We also had some very important, and even spiritual discussions about how she perceives herself and her higher worth and value.  This was also a Godly time.

Overall, I sincerely thank God for the last two days--I feel more spiritually centered than I have in a long time.  I also thank God for the last three nights of actually getting the amount of sleep my body needs.  It's a good start to a good week!  (there's still Aikido kids' class, adult class, meditation, and a small group Bible study to look forward to tonight!)

Good Friday--Good Night!

Good Friday is a huge day—it commemorates the death of Christ, the payment for sin, and sets in motion the cycle for the resurrection of Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  People nationally and internationally focus in on remembrance and new life.

My Good Friday was straight up crazy.  The day started out normally enough—though I was a bit tired and behind in preparations for the evening.  We had two tournaments/events at The Gamers Guild, the Dojo didn’t have classes, but we did have a reflection we were going to set up that people could go through on their own to meditate on what Christ had gone through and how it impacted their lives, and some people were coming up to serve Root Beer floats out of Common Grounds Coffee House and Free Store to anyone who might want some as a Good Friday act of generosity.  The Gamers Guild was a mess—we had cards all over all the tables as we were sorting the collection as part of our project to make the ‘common and uncommon’ cards in The Gamers Guild free (kind of like our free store).  The idea is that the community can help itself by trading with the collection, donating to it, or taking from it—much like the early church in Acts helped itself by sharing what it owned.  If a kid wants to build a Pokemon deck, he or she can do so for free now—and older players can quickly find cards they need due to the organization system.  Plus, anyone can donate extra cards into the collection to help others out or trade cards that they don’t want for ones that they do.  It’s also completely opposite to the way that any card store runs, so I hope that the concept itself helps people ask about why we do what we do and helps them see Christ.  (It already has, by the way).  Suffice it to say, with several thousand cards stacked out on all of our tables, we had a LOT of cleaning to do.

Early in the day, I met with a friend who manages a local radio station, and we got to work on the back room to get things out and ready for the reflection (and for the tournaments).  It was a pretty monumental task, but we made good progress.  Our progress was further helped by a volunteer who has begun assisting at the Free Store who began to tear into some boxes of donations that were in the way and that needed processed prior to the evening.  By about 4PM we had two more volunteers up there helping get the cards where they needed to go, and about 5PM, when we open to doors for Pokemon League, the place was in tolerable, though still rough shape.  My wife had been helping organize, but she was having a rough day, so I spent some time chatting with her.  While I was comforting her, one of the other volunteers indicated that he REALLY needed to talk; I needed to be a few places at once by now, so I finished talking with my wife, then I headed outside to hear him share.  His situation was complex and private—and too much to put into this entry.  However, it involved several complications that were ultimately going to result in someone calling the ministry that evening for an emergency ride out of a neighboring town to a safe house in Hays.  While we were talking outside The Gamers Guild, he was sharing about how he had been reading the Bible and praying for the first time in his life, and about how things were going well there.  At that point, the two Mormon missionaries who have been attending my Monday morning Aikido classes showed up and said hello—they were meeting with an individual who had requested they talk with him about faith inside The Gamers Guild.  Once they had passed, my friend who was sharing about how he was growing with God looked up at the sky and said something like ‘Quit messing with me, man!’, which cracked me up.  Then another guy came up needing to talk.  Once I’d finished with the first I headed in and talked with him.  Meanwhile, our small group Bible study had showed up and wanted to know if they could help out—I told them it would really help if they could assist with sorting the Free Store donation boxes while I finished setting up the Christ reflection in the Dojo.  As I finished there, the Mormon missionaries came up and asked about it.  One of them was very touched by the reflection and went through it himself; the other thought it was interesting and read several of the reflection stations.  Both also asked if they could join our small group Bible study for the evening, to which I replied—sure.

The first volunteer who had been helping with the Free Store boxes also joined our small group Bible study, as did the father of a kid from Pokemon League AND the second guy who wanted to chat with me.  Soon, we had no less than five new people in our Good Friday small group.  We started late, and it was a bit awkward with so many new people, but (thank God for answered prayers), the conversation soon started flowing naturally.  It got better and better as we went, and we ended on a good prayer; when I looked up, our two volunteers to serve Root Beer floats were there.  We got them set up, and I heard them have several excellent life and faith conversations with some of our regulars at our Unite Game Night.  While this was all happening, I got the expected phone call that someone from a nearby town needed a ride to a safe house.  My wife was very gracious in that she covered The Gamers Guild while I stepped out to pick this individual up (along with a relative of the individual who went with me to pick them up), and I started on a further interesting journey.  I enjoyed getting to know this person a little better on the ride to pick their family member up, and I also found an interesting coincidence in the fact that we were picking up an individual from a bad situation on the anniversary of the day Jesus died to pay for all of our sins.  Letting that thought fall aside, I continued to chat with this individual; we then, picked up their relative and started the ride back to Hays.

The ride was very strange—I could sense that the person I picked up was lying to me about multiple details, but I wasn’t sure what they were or why.  It was spiritually almost oppressive, but they did need a safe ride to a safe house, so at the end of the ride when I dropped them off, I felt like it was still the right thing to do.  At that point, I was utterly drained in almost every way—and I was extremely famished.  I returned to The Gamers Guild and took over for my wife—working late into the evening.  Eventually our friends serving floats headed home after more good conversations and after they led several people through the reflection.  After that, my wife and I got some food and continued working.  Near the end of the night I was finally able to do something that I’d wanted to all night—I went through the reflection myself. 

The time in the candlelight reflecting on Christ was time very well spent.  It brought a variety of good thoughts to mind, and it also provided me some rest after a crazy day.  While I was reflecting, I got a kick out of all of the faith-based things that had happened that Good Friday.  Several volunteers got to help us out, and I got to know them all better.  One man had shared with me how much Christ was helping him grow, while at the same time two Mormon missionaries were having a loud and somewhat awkward set of faith discussions in The Gamers Guild.  Several people—including the two missionaries and a guy whose faith was undecided had experienced a small group Bible study.  Several individuals who are not usually served received free Root Beer floats and caring conversations—some of which included a faith component.  A woman had gotten out of a bad situation to a safe house.  My wife had been (briefly) comforted.  Several kids had gone through a Christ reflection, and at least one Mormon missionary was surprised by how heavily we reflect on Christ…. and more—even more had happened that night.  It led me to think about the phrase “Good Friday, Good Night!” because both meanings of that phrase were true.  It was an excellent night—I wouldn’t have traded it for anything—so many people were blessed and blessed others.  It also was extremely exhausting—more exhausting than any such holiday in recent memory for me—which made me feel like saying ‘Good Night!’  It had been so crazy that I felt like I didn’t have anything left and just needed to sleep.  Still, there in the candlelight at the end of the day, I felt peace, and I knew that it had truly been a ‘good’ Friday, in every sense of the word.  Thank God for such a hectic, yet blessed day.

A Long Sunday

My Sunday on April 10^th started early—I normally teach Spanish after church service to a few friends who may one day join us on a Mexico mission trip, but Sunday we did it at 9AM before second service since the Dojo quarterly party was after service.  We had a European breakfast—toast, meat and cheese, and hard-boiled eggs—and some excellent conversation.  My wife and I then left right away to pick up a college student friend (and student at the Dojo) to go to service with us; afterwards, I saw that I had two missed texts and a voicemail.  In the 45 minutes that we had to get our potluck crockpot meal prepared, a gentleman from out of town wanted to meet me to pick up some things at The Gamers Guild, Vin (the previously homeless fellow that we’ve been helping from my previous newsletter) had left a message that he urgently needed food after returning from a brief stay in prison, and a friend who attends The Gamers Guild messaged me that he urgently needed to talk before 5PM.

I chuckled to myself and told my wife what was up.  Some days like Sunday feel like God is really moving.  She said she could prepare the crockpot recipe and start the Dojo cleaning at the beginning of the party if I was a bit late, so I took her up on it and headed to pick up Vin.  We caught up a bit while I took him up to the Unite Common Grounds Coffee House and Free Store.  We had a recent food donation from North Oak Community Church, so we were well stocked—we also had extra commodities from the Federal food distribution the week prior—as such, we got him a large crate of food.  The other fellow who needed to pick up items met me there while I was helping Vin out, and we got him his things.  Then I dropped Vin off and headed to chat with my friend at his job.  Once there, I waited until he could take a break, and then we chatted about some very serious things happening with a roommate of his; he wanted advice, but more than that, I think he just needed someone who genuinely cared about him and his roommate to listen.  I was glad to do that, and he said things were better after even just sharing some.  This, to me, was one of the most important parts of my day.  After being there for him, I picked up a Salted Nut Roll from his place of work (I figured I should buy something since I was in there, even if I was just talking to an employee on break) to split with Tella, since neither of us had eaten lunch, and I headed to the Dojo.  Cleaning was already underway, and we had a great meeting afterwards and an enjoyable party.  By the end of the night, everyone had fun, and the Dojo had grown as a community.

After the Dojo party, we briefly met with some friends at our house to celebrate a birthday and a recently attained job.  This, too, was very good.  After everyone had departed, my wife and I collapsed in our chairs and rested—it had been an excellent, but very LONG day.

As I reflected on the day, it did make me smile—so many excellent things had been accomplished in such a short day, and I do think that some of them involved God directly.  It also had the kind of crazy air about it that sometimes indicates His involvement to me.  Such things are greatly reassuring to me—to know that He still accomplishes His will through me and with me despite all of my flaws and all of my failings.  I don’t know how much, or how little what I do accomplishes in the long run—but I do know that I dearly love every person in my life and want to see every last one of them after the resurrection.  I also know that God loves them even more than I do and wants to lose not one; as such, I do very sincerely want to be available for whatever He may have for me.  I also hope that sharing about some of what He does encourages others to be open for God to use, as well.  You, yourself, have connections and relationships that can reach some people in ways that no one else can—may God help you be sensitive to the opportunities that you possess to love someone with God and to help further His Kingdom on earth!

God's Movement and Timing... And a Couch

I have lately been reflecting on how God and The Holy Spirit's movement are much like the wind: according to Jesus, The Holy Spirit is like the wind in the sense that you see Him by His effects--not by directly seeing Him.  I often see God in leftover signs in creation--the complex organization of life: very highly structured, interwoven, and more specific than random chance could allow for (along with the sheer beauty of nature).  He also shows in that science now indicates that there was a beginning and will be an end--unlike the steady-state universe theory that presided for a long time in opposition to a worldview that has a creator and a beginning and an end.  He even more clearly shows in answered prayers, lifestyles and personalities attuned to Him, and the simplicity and accuracy of the truth of The Way preached by Jesus; all of these and more are indirect signs that indicate a direct presence.

Now I may later in life (probably the next one, not this one) find out that I was wrong, but I felt a bit of that last Wednesday with a couch.  My wife and I were driving to The Gamers Guild, where I was going to relax on my Sabbath and play a game online with some friends who live a distance away.  For some unknown reason, I felt like our route should first stop by two friends of ours to pick up some cleaning supplies (they have recent twins and don't want certain harsh chemicals around their house) and THEN, secondarily, to grab food and head to The Gamers Guild.  On the way to The Gamers Guild with food, one of my Aikido students called about a couch that was sitting in their neighbors lawn with a free sign on it--she wanted to know if we wanted it for Common Grounds Coffee House and Free Store.  Now it just so happens that this was something that we wanted and needed--we were actively in the process of replacing a very broken, and somewhat dangerous couch.  Once we realized that we could snag it on the way there and still be more or less on time, I also realized that we were exactly one block away from where this couch was since my choice of stops left us driving on a road that we normally wouldn't be anywhere near on our way to The Gamers Guild.  Weirdly enough, that let me continue the conversation without a break and arrive to inspect the couch as I hung up.  We found it, she offered her pickup to haul it, and we had it outside its new home in a matter of minutes.  From there, we ran into some trouble getting it through the door, but we got it to fit after some substantial manipulation and a lot of heavy pushing--this delayed me a few extra minutes, which means I was about seven minutes late logging onto Skype to talk with my friends.  As I was logging on one, then immediately a second friend texted to indicate that they were all running just a bit late.  I ended up being the first one there--and the others joined within minutes.  At the end of the whole brief adventure, it timed out perfectly so that I was seated, eating, and ready to chat and hang out with good friends and minimal interruption to my Sabbath/day of rest, all with a new couch fixing a needed ministry problem.  It was a lot of great timing and good coincidences.  So for that, I thank God.  ;)

Deafness and Quiet

Last week, I had an unsettling conversation at The Gamers Guild; one of the players asked me to stay and listen while he talked.  He had some problems he wanted advice on.  It was tough to hear some of the broken family relationships, and it was actually hard to follow some of the family tree due to the complexities of how many times it had been broken and re-made, but I followed most of it and was able to let him vent, which was the most of what he needed (though he had said he wanted advice--he really just needed someone to listen to him).  It was a little unsettling seeing the reverse side of the coin of the adoption process--this individual's kids had been seized and others had adopted them; I actually knew one of the missionary couples who has one of his biological kids.  I usually know the coin from that side--the people who have adopted a kid out of a rough home; as such, I tend to understand how they don't want the biological parents to have too much to do with the kid to prevent confusion and continued negative influences.  It was strange instead to hear the anguish it called a biological father to not be able to refer to himself as a child's father if/when he ran into them, and of kids who didn't yet know they had ever even been adopted or that someone else might be their parent.

What was really unsettling, though, was how unable this individual was to listen.  Though they said they wanted advice and really needed some advice, even the simplest advice couldn't be heard.  They physically heard it, but it didn't process with them or sink in.  They were too drowned in their own perceptions of the problems and their own internal drama to even be able to consider any other advice, worldview, or perspective.  It was somewhat dumbfounding.  Though I said several simple things that should have been very logical and greatly solved 95% of some of the problems, they wouldn't sink in--couldn't sink in.  He was completely unable to hear.  After awhile, I realized that no matter what I said or how firmly, clearly, bluntly or obviously, nothing was going to get through and be heard in any way that would likely make positive life change.  This individual was actually too self-absorbed to hear it, understand it, or really to even care what I was saying because he'd already figured out that his problems were insurmountable--except maybe by extreme efforts that he'd already considered.  He wanted to see himself as the victim and as the hero, beating his insurmountable challenges...  and that's what he was going to do.  Whatever I said was just some quiet outside whisper unrelated to what he was suffering.

It was really fascinating--and disheartening.  I hope that this individual did hear some of what I said, and that he may even be able to one day hear God Himself on bigger/better levels than he currently does, but I could feel in the conversation that he won't likely be able to hear Him or listen unless God does a great miracle or continues to work on him for decades.  Maybe, just maybe, way later in life he'll finally be in a position to hear something from somebody--and hopefully from God.  This gave me great comfort in God's patient, enduring love (I'm confident that God will continue to slowly work on Him).  It also made me wonder how deaf I often am to God and how much I still clearly don't hear.  Thankfully, God is patient and loving and will continue to help me in my deafness.  I know that I hear more than I once did--but who knows how much like this young man I may still be if one takes a bigger, more Godly perspective on it.  In sincere, honest reflection of my own sinful nature and of the Holy Spirit as He refines me, I can see that I am still often deaf--that, though saved and though I possess better knowledge--that I still frequently screw up and am, in effect, partially 'deaf' to hearing God's voice or shutting out my sinful nature.  It may be that I am more like this young man than I know, though at least God continues to show me how much more I need to hear and how very much I daily need to walk with Him to be able to live for The Kingdom and true life.

Hopefully this will help me walk more humbly with God--Lord knows I need to be reminded how truly humble I should be due to all He's done and still does.  I guess, though unsettling, that the conversation ultimately left me ending with the sensation of a still small voice, loving, and working, and eroding at deafness in this young man, me, and all of us.  It also left me with a more obvious sense of the very powerful, and often quiet way that God loves.

Surprise

During the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance meeting yesterday, we all gave out prayer requests and prayed for each other, as usual.  One prayer request, however, caught me by complete surprise.  Opal--an elderly lady who represents her small rural church while it waits for an intern pastor--requested prayers for a man across the counter at a local convenience station who had surprised her by asking for prayers out of the blue.  Based on the request, I was shocked to realize that the individual must be the fellow I wrote about in my previous blog entry 'Ride Along'.

It was a slightly electrifying moment for me to realize that God was working with him on several different levels; not only has he lately begun praying for the first time and reading some of the Bible, but now he made a random prayer request that made it back to the ministerial alliance; it reminded me that, though I am in this man's life pretty heavily representing Christ, it really is God and the Holy Spirit doing all the work with him.  God's movements are real, active, and often more intricate and involved than I realize.  It is a heavy reassurance to simply remember that He is moving and that He is the active head of the body of believers, His church.  I don't have to worry too much about the bigger picture when it comes to this young man or others I love, because God loves them even more and is already working on things--I just have to enjoy working with Him as a part of the body of believers.  Happenings like this also remind me of His great love for each person out there--to see that so many parts of the body of believers and the Holy Spirit directly are working on this one man with a good heart.  It reassures me of His love for others and for me.  Thank God for who He is!

Games

Today was an excellent--though very long--day.  I had a good time this morning in prayer and reflection; I had some very important conversations and good opportunities to love people in my life, and I got a lot of work accomplished.  At the end of evening Aikido, I was in The Gamers Guild handling some final sales prior to the small group Bible study that I usually lead in Common Grounds Coffee House and Free Store (in between Aikido of Northwest Kansas and The Gamers Guild).  One of the members was going to be late as he was caring for his new twin girls, and three people were sitting around very bored.  My wife also wanted me to play a game with her.  I knew I had quite a few things to do work-wise, but there are ALWAYS things to do work-wise, and it felt like God's Kingdom priority would lean more towards loving my wife and helping these bored college students feel engaged and have fun.  So, I suggested we play a short board game.  The short board game went long, and the individual who showed up late for small group was even able to join in, but it was actually tremendously fun.  The game we played, Coup, was a newer game at The Gamers Guild, and three of the players hadn't ever played before.  Soon everyone was smiling, joking, and spending good time together.  At the end, we started small group late and had great discussion and prayer.

Later tonight, as we were driving home, my wife told me how very much playing that game meant to her.  She said that moments like that don't happen often enough at The Gamers Guild, but that those types of moments are one of the things that she loves the most--when we can engage people who are there because they are bored, help them learn a new game and have fun, and help them feel connected to other people.  I agree with my wife--that is one of the most important things we can do up there--and I hope to be able to do that more and more often as I continue to prayerfully change things there so that I can more easily be free to walk around and start games and conversations.  Thank God for great opportunities with good people--the harvest is plentiful, and the workers are few.  We can, even today, pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send more workers.  If YOU might be one of those people who would enjoy hanging out with (primarily) college-aged kids playing games and having conversations, feel free to contact me and let me know.  We'd love to have you there, too!

Easy to Forget

Sometimes it is easy for me to forget how much of an honor it is to be able to get to do what I get to do.  One of our Aikido youth's family told me that they were moving away.  They very nicely thanked me for my patience and work with their daughter and explained that they didn't know if they'd move back later or not.

During our final class with her, some of the usual students didn't show up, so it was just her and me.  We spent the time playing many of her favorite games and doing drills that she enjoyed; she is a very shy girl and also very quiet, but with just me there, she spoke up and answered questions that she normally wouldn't answer at all or volunteered opinions that she would often not voice.  Watching her play the games, I was amazed at just how far she has come both socially and physically.  Her improvement in comfortably interacting with me was leaps and bounds ahead of where it started--and I was honored and touched that she'd grown to trust me that much.  Her coordination was also light years ahead of where she started.  Some of the games that she was doing well now she couldn't have even attempted when she started.

As we were playing and she was smiling and I was reflecting on this growth, I was very humbled that God had placed me in a position of impact in this young girl's life.  I'm not sure how many of our moral lessons she'll remember, or how many of the physical skills, but to get to see so much positive social progress and coordination development alone made me very happy.  It also highlighted how often I can overlook the value and potential benefit that teaching kids classes can have.  Though I know in my head that each lesson can impact youth in positive ways, it is important for me to remember in my busy days just how big of a statement that is and how much more I can focus in on teaching--and enjoying teaching--my kids classes at the Dojo.  Near the end of class, some other students showed up for the second class, and I asked them to join the mats for her final request (since it required more people).  One of the new kids tried to influence this young girl to change her decision on how the last game was to be played; normally this student can influence her to do whatever this student wants.  I was again surprised--and quite proud--when she audibly, and loudly said 'no', she would do it the way she'd originally picked.  Her confidence and ability to stick to her guns was a final blessing to be able to see.  Thank God for a chance to see some fruit in a harvest field that I often can forget is even there!  It is a field that has more impact that I may even know.

Ride Along

Last week I accompanied a fellow from The Gamers Guild on a journey to try and exchange some items with his fiance who had left him.  I have been an arbiter before with couples when they can't find some other neutral party to help them resolve things peacefully, and he was concerned that he'd get too hot under the collar without me there.  On the way, he prayed one of the most interesting and honest prayers--it involved giving him the strength to not harm her and for her to see the righteous anger in his eyes based on his love and hurt.  I found the prayer to be very deep and moving because it was so heartfelt and sincere, but also because it mirrored the Old Testament and God's explained relationship with Israel.

God frequently compares Israel to a loose woman who goes off and commits adultery with other Gods, and he explains both His righteous anger and His continuing love for her.  This is very much the situation that my young friend from The Gamers Guild is in--the woman he's with has made a habit of leaving everyone she's been in relationship with previously, coming back to them, leaving, coming back to them, leaving, coming back to them, and occasionally rotating among a few guys.  For good or for ill, this gentleman had fallen for her, and though she had left him and come back twice, he felt that with a ring on her finger, things would change.  Now that she'd run off again (back to an old boyfriend), he was no longer sad and broken, but angry--and still in love.

It was a very strange experience to see his emotions so raw and real and to see how much that mimicked the emotions that God describes in the Old Testament towards Israel; you see, I've always found it somewhat hard to understand the balance between His anger and His continuing love; it seemed to rock either to harsh or too complacent--but in the attitudes and actions of this young man, I  saw the balance and understood how real and accurate that explanation is.  In fact, I feel that it helped me better understand God--and appreciate how deeply great His love for us is--even to the point that He both still loves us and is angry when we hurt ourselves or others through our sins.  Thank God for His mercy and continued love!

February Newsletter/Prayer Requests

First, I’ve very recently begun using our prayer blog/website more aggressively to share what is happening in our ministry and for prayer requests.  You are also always invited to call me, email me, or swing by and chat with me anytime.  We’d love to have you share directly in the ministry work with us.

I received a phone call about a month ago from a man—we’ll call him Vin for anonymity—he was homeless in Hays and had been given our ministry’s number by another homeless man who had told him we might be able to help him.  I was a little hesitant off the bat as the person who had given him our number had used us as much as he could before it became obvious that we were happy to help him to a long-term solution at the Salina rescue mission but could no longer provide him places to stay locally.  We had been getting more and more phone calls from homeless individuals or individuals in distress since we were the fifth ministry down on the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance web page and First Call for Help, Salvation Army, and Catholic Charities (the big three that provide assistance in Hays) are not able to help everyone who comes to them.  Due to budget decreases and other restrictions, many people are falling through the cracks. 

When we met Vin, I was struck by how honest he was.  Unlike several of the other individuals we have worked with, he would always tell the truth—if he needed money for cigarettes he wouldn’t lie and say he needed money for food.  When he said he had paperwork from Social Security and a check coming, he really did.  He was going through hard times for several reasons—his wife had died awhile back and his son and him had sold the trailer they shared in Nebraska.  After living off that money for awhile, he was called to Hays to stand trial for failure to appear in court over a bounced check.  Now on probation, he was unable to move to the Salina Rescue Mission because he was ordered to stay in Hays.  Without enough money to pay for first month’s rent AND the security deposit for an apartment, he had been homeless.  As cold as it was, he was primarily surviving by panhandling for money for rooms at the cheapest hotel in town.

Once we had a feel for him and for his honesty, we connected him with a local landlord who had a VERY rough apartment that Vin could move into right away without a full month’s rent (as Vin had no money) provided that Vin could help clean and repair it.  The landlord was very generous as this room would not be ready for a month for general rent due to its condition, but Vin had nowhere else to sleep that night.  I helped Vin get food and clothes from our free store, apply to a few ministries in town for additional assistance, and I bought him a radio from the ARC since he had requested a radio a few different times.  He also snagged a Bible from our Free Store shelf for reading material.  Things seemed to be looking up for Vin that week, then Vin disappeared.

One week later I got a call.  I’m uncertain whether Vin tried to actually kill himself or if it was an attempt to hurt himself to get into Larned State Hospital where his room was paid and he had three solid meals a day.  He obviously thought about it in advance by the way he spread out plastic bags on the floor to catch his blood so he wouldn’t stain the carpet.  He also had a lot of reasons to be legitimately depressed—he had no money, no plan, no local friends, and he was very lonely even though he now had a home.  Regardless, he was in Larned now.  When he was released, we worked with him and the landlord, and he was able to resume living in the apartment while cleaning it up.  Things seemed to be going up for him a second time, but then he disappeared again.

One week and two days later, I was overseeing The Emergency Federal Assistance Program’s government food distribution, a new project that Unite has taken over, in which we line up cars from surrounding counties down at the Armory on Main Street, use a forklift donated by Heartland Building to

unload pallets of government surplus food,  and then manually load cases of food off the pallets into the cars to go to community food banks throughout Northwest Kansas.  In the middle of this logistical challenge, I get a call from Vin.  He’s at a local church and needs help.  His liver had started failing two weeks ago, and he had been rushed from HaysMed ER to Kansas City; on the trip, he nearly died—they pulled 13 pounds of fluid off him in Kansas City’s ICU.  Luckily, he’d lived through the ordeal.  Now, fresh out of the ICU with stitches and a satchel full of confusing medicines, they’d loaded him onto a Greyhound bus and sent him back to Hays, where he lived.  He didn’t have his cellphone, wallet, IDs, or clothes—all had been mistakenly kept at HaysMed.  Instead, he was alone in donated sweats from a charity in Kansas City.  I told him that I’d hurry down and help him as soon as we were done.

Upon meeting him there, we started to work on his immediate needs.  First, he needed his check from Social Security to pay rent.  The landlord wrote the necessary eviction notice proving an urgent need for the check, then I took him and the notice to the Social Security office on 27th.  There, he was able to get his check—it appears that he also had another check on backorder due to confusion about his address; he had been living in the hotel so it had gone there instead of his new apartment.  We figured that out, but we were unable to cash Vin’s check for him to use to pay rent since he had no ID—even though he had enough pertinent personal information to get Social Security to issue him his check on the spot.  As such, we took him to HaysMed to get his wallet, clothes, and birth certificate—all of which had been mistakenly left there.  After he had that, we still couldn’t find a place to cash his check since he owned no photo ID—he only had his birth certificate.  With some convoluted work, we were able to work with my bank to cash his check—but only because I banked there and had the right connections.  With his money in hand, I helped him pay rent and got him back to his place; there I found out that he had only two chairs for furniture and a concrete floor to sleep on—even though he had fresh stitches.

With additional work and God’s providence (and a story longer than I can fit in this newsletter), the next day we were able to get a trailer and help and give him a sleeper sofa from The Gamers Guild that actually had a nice bed inside of it until a real bed could arrive in a few days.  Thank God, he could now sleep on a bed instead of a concrete floor.  He also gained two very nice connections with Christians who would follow up on him and care about him.  With further work, we got him a TV for his entertainment while he was home and some places he could go socially if he needed.

I share this story because first, it was astounding for me to learn how hard it is for someone who is homeless and has legitimate social security to draw upon to access it functionally without Internet, a cell phone, a legal place of residence, and a ton of identification and knowledge of the system.  Many ministries in town STILL can’t help Vin since he doesn’t have proof of local residence for another week when his bills come back with his name and address and PAID marked on them.  If I didn’t work with these ministries for a living, I couldn’t even help him get help.  Second--when we came back with the sofa for Vin, he was sitting alone in his room with the little clock radio I had purchased him playing.  For me it had almost been an afterthought to get him the radio with all of his other pressing needs for food and shelter and my need to hurry back to other urgent things, but to him it had been a constant companion and it was a critical need for his mind to be distracted.  It was obvious in that bare room how important it was to him.  In my desire to help him and hurry to meet his obvious needs, I hadn’t taken enough time to slow down and really listen to him to see how critical some of his other needs were—to really love him.

When you see someone panhandling or meet someone in need, I want to encourage you to stop and take time to really listen to them.  Hear what they have to say in the same way that God, who greatly loves them, hears them.  See how you can come alongside them and help them or connect them with help directly.  It may be that your resources will be needed for them to get through the assistance agencies and get actual help.  Quite possibly the one that Christ sent to answer their prayers is none other than you.

Reflections--Prayer Requests Feb 21 2016

This last week both my wife and I were sick for a few days.  We also had a large event planned this weekend at The Gamers Guild to honor a local who recently died.  The organizers decided to push the event back so that more of his friends could make it.  As such, we suddenly had a free Saturday--which we very seldom, if ever, have.  These extra down days have left me more rested than I've felt in years--and have helped me realize that I push too hard in my weeks.  I strictly leave myself one day per week off--Wednesday--as my Sabbath.  Thank God I got into that practice awhile ago!  Unfortunately, I tend to work very early in the morning until quite late at night every other day (except for some Sundays--we occasionally have Sunday evenings free).  

In an ideal 'typical' week, I get up Monday and do some exercises for my back, do my meditation/prayer/centering/Bible time, and then get to the Dojo to teach Aikido from 9:00AM-11:00AM.  I then run needed errands (picking up packages at UPS, mail, checking bank accounts, responding to emails etc.), eat lunch, and do more ministry administrative work until 2:30PM, when I do my own workout/training/lesson prep at the Dojo.  I get done at 3:30PM in time to spruce the place up for the evening, then I teach kids class from 4:50-5:50PM, adults 6:00-8:30PM, spend 45 minutes at The Gamers Guild register, then have small group from 9:15PM-10:45PM at Common Grounds Coffee House and Free Store (inside The Gamers Guild).  After that, Tella and I start wrapping things up at The Gamers Guild and Free Store and get home around 11:30PM.  I get ready for bed; Tuesday is actually a busier day that involves recurring ministry meetings in the morning, trying to catch up on any and all required paperwork for all 3 entities and then advancing ministry projects (preparing for upcoming outreach projects in the week, helping individuals move, get food, get needs met etc.), teaching Aikido from 4:00-8:30PM, being at The Gamers Guild and Free Store from 8:30PM-10:30 or 11:30PM, and then getting to bed.  Wednesday is a Sabbath, Thursday is about like Tuesday with more recurring meetings and less time for other projects, and Friday involves morning classes from 8:00AM-10:00AM, errands, workout and class from 11:45AM-3:00PM, one hour and a half to catch up on final things, small group at 5:15PM, Game Night from 7:00PM-2:00AM, and then Saturday and Sunday are usually fairly full with other things.  Next weekend is workshop at the Dojo and a fundraiser for student scholarships, while Sunday is Church, teaching Spanish at my place, then tournaments.  It all rolls right back into Monday.

This schedule also has to flex for things like helping Jerry, a homeless man whom we've helped get an apartment, a bed, and other assistance, emergency moves (we have a call to help a woman in a domestic situation move her things this week), and people who urgently need to talk about life's big things.  When I look at it honestly, I work a minimum of 55 hours a week (on a rare week like this week where we had no Saturday events) and a maximum of 80 to 90 hours.  While it is important stuff, and while I do think it serves the Kingdom, I think it's so busy that I don't have enough time to truly gain energy and zeal to do some of the work.  I'm aggressively praying about what I can cut out and how to do it so that I do have more down time with my wife and just with myself.  I feel more rested and invigorated and ready for this upcoming week than I have for any week that I can remember in years--all because I've slept more and had more mentally disengaged time this last week than I have in a long time.  Even my couple of weeks off each year are spent on mission trips or Dojo trips--it's time for me to figure out how to do this better.  To do that, I know that I have to cut some things--maybe even beneficial programs that we've long done; please pray with me as I go through this process and try to figure out what that might be!

Ministerial Alliance Meeting--Thoughts about Sacrifice

February 10th the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance meeting was held at Unite's Common Grounds Coffee House and Free Store.  It was a busy start--my wife, Tella, and I were cleaning the place up and getting it ready early.  The One advisory board met first and chatted about the publication while we prepared.  I was excited, because I had four unique guests at the event.  Pat, who is opening Breathe Coffee House on Main Street, was there.  Much of what he plans to do there will work with much of what we are already doing, and some of his plans will involve a lot of the churches that attend the ECMA, so I was very glad that he could make it.  Dave, the station manager at KPRD was also in attendance.  Since he's looking to network more with local communities and since many of them could take advantage of his public service announcements, I was very glad to see him again.  Also in attendance were two Mormon missionaries who had originally shown up at our doorstep asking to chat about Jesus.  Considering my what my life was about, I couldn't really say no to an opportunity to chat about Jesus.  As I got to know the two of them, I found out that they were interested in Aikido (they now take a morning class at our school), and that they need more community service hours but don't have good connections to local community service opportunities.  Since many of the nonprofits at the ECMA are always hard up for volunteers, I figured that it would be good for them to be in attendance to announce their availability to help out.

The meeting went very well--it was long and would be boring to relay everything involved.  One of the more interesting things, though, was brought up when a task force that the ECMA had created to look at options for First Call for Help asked to have its mission clarified.  They wanted to know if they were looking for ways to help everyone in the community with the resources they had or if they were looking at how to best use the resources they had.  These are two very different questions, of course.  One of the local chaplains began discussing how we could help everyone with the resources we had--including having the pastors present see how many landlords were in their congregations who could live out a Christian walk by offering emergency housing assistance with vacant apartments (since one of the issues discussed was emergency housing and the lack of it here in Ellis County--and our inability to help the situation with such limited finances).  His argument was interesting, because, in truth, the committee attempting to help everyone with their limited financial resources was bound to fail.  However, if the body of Christ as a whole--not just the Christian leaders on that committee with that donated money--were to address this problem seriously, we could possibly come up with legitimate solutions.  The amount of work, time, and effort involved in such an approach would be huge, but it could actually succeed at handling some of the problems.  Unfortunately, the committee was told that its job was just to figure out how best to use the resources they had.  While this makes more administrative sense (answering a finite question with finite options is a tangible goal), it also fails to address the continuing needs in the community.  At first, I had felt some interest in joining the committee--once I realized that was their only goal (figuring out how to allocate resources), I became quickly disinterested.  I also only have a very finite amount of time to invest--and others are quite capable of handling questions of resource allocation.  If the question, however, was how to help people more fully, though it would have taken more time--I wold have been interested in joining to help that group.

The reason I mention this is that it is part of a trend I see in Christian ministries in the U.S.  Often we have highly active ministry leaders who are paid money to help allocate other money to help people.  The money they are given is insufficient to the needs, and the work is more than they can do.  To fix that problem, they seek more money.  Instead of congregants getting motivated to step in and spend their life sacrificially for the cause of Christ by directly helping out, they are encouraged to spend more of their money donating so that ministry workers can better help.  What ultimately happens is that the few trying to do the work of the many get burnt out and cannot help the situation.  The only good solution is for the few to rouse the many to the good works we are called to do--unfortunately, the very way we are set up in our society of being busy and constant engagement means that it is much harder to rouse people to invest their time and not just their money.  However, I feel that we as Christian leaders have to encourage others to invest their time--Christ was fairly clear that we need to surrender our lives to gain true life; we have to give up more than just some money--we have to give it all up to follow Him--including our time.  It's not an easy proposition, but I feel that we need to move towards it if we have any hope of being the actual body of Christ that we are called to be....

Small Group Surprises

Our Monday evening small group at Unite Common Grounds Coffee House and free store is very small--me and two other guys.  Two weeks ago, however, a high school student overheard our discussions about life and faith and decided he wanted to join the discussion.  As the discussion grew more interesting--regarding being honest with others even if it might hurt them--a college guy sat down and threw in his two cents.  Almost two hours later, after a very enjoyable and very real discussion, we broke apart and went our separate ways; the high school guy said he was planning on joining in every week, and the college guy may or may not, but he does want to possibly chat later about some faith things.  Regardless, I was personally very happy--this was one of the first times that someone random had joined a small group out of the blue, and we had even opened up a good dialogue with the college fellow, who had stepped back from organized religion due to some rough experiences (this had been about thirty minutes of our discussion).  Regardless of future meetings, it was a good night--thank those of you who have been praying for our small groups!

Nimz Ministry Newsletter August 2015

August is always an intense change-of-pace for the ministry, and we’d love for you to be praying for us especially this month. We are actively preparing for an interfaith lunch put on by campus Saturday, August 15^th, during which we will provide freezer pops towards the meal and just chat with college students along with any other religious groups in town that wish to come. Saturday is also when Aikido of Northwest Kansas, The Gamers Guild, and Unite Common Grounds Coffee House and our small groups all change to fall semester times, which is a LOT of rescheduling!

August 17^th we’ll be on campus during the Picnic in the Quad. The Unite booth will have information on our small groups, free store and food program, and community outreach opportunities. The Gamers Guild will be doing demonstrations of a large variety of board and card games so that students who may have interest in alternative behaviors to the large house parties and bars on Friday nights know about the Unite Game Night there and other activities other days of the week; also, Aikido of Northwest Kansas will be demonstrating the entire time and will have information about Aikido classes and our early church prayer meditation opportunities. All three groups will be active at the same time, and all three will be giving out small promotional items. We’ll have 30 minutes to set up all three tables and three hours in the sun (hopefully—rain is beautiful but detrimental to outdoor events). Please pray that the right help shows up at the right time and that our volunteers for all 3 entities can bond well in community and Christ.

August 27^th is The Welcoming Event on campus—we invite all churches and college ministries onto campus to serve students. Please pray that it be obvious how this event is different from the other two opportunities that churches have to be on campus and that many will choose to attend this day. The interfaith lunch on the 15^th does not allow us to bring promotional materials or advertise our groups, but instead it puts out its own flyer with all of our information (Christian and other faiths); however, it is a great day for churches to help students who are looking for a faith community. The event on the 17^th is a promotional smorgasbord with sometimes close to 300 groups present. It’s a great way to get out promotional material, but churches and ministries will also primarily just hit students looking for a faith community. The Welcoming Event is designed for the churches and ministries to come to campus to serve ALL students with love, by welcoming them to Hays with tangible gifts and help (such as laundry care kits, food, or other direct blessings). This event is geared towards believers and non-believers; it is to show the love of Christ to any and all students who walk by—and the hope is that it will demonstrate even to non-believers at least a bit of who Christ is and who these communities claim to be.

There are even more upcoming events in August, September, and October—in all honesty, I’ll only be able to keep you lightly apprised of them for prayer as they are very numerous and range from large to small, but all are important. Sometime soon we will be doing some fundraisers for Aikido scholarships. Aikido of Northwest Kansas currently scholarships about nine students by covering part of their cost to attend our school—this has helped several excellent families bond together by practicing a self-defensive martial art and providing moral lessons. These fundraisers will give to the Aikido International Foundation, our scholarship program administrator, so that school will be able to possibly scholarship more students and so that we

will not have such a high financial burden to the program. Please pray that these go well. Also please pray that the moral lessons—especially those in the kids classes—point clearly to Godly living and help the kids truly see who God is behind the actions and attitudes that they are learning.

To help free up more time so I can focus more heavily on ministry projects that have been on the back burner for too long, I have also started a volunteer group for The Gamers Guild and Unite Common Grounds Coffee House and free store. Please pray that these form well—there is a lot of interest, and I do need to free up more time to do more ministry administration work. With scheduled ministry work (including time scheduled to meet one-on-one with students and ministers for various projects or spiritual encouragement/mentoring), I have between 56 and 76 hours locked down each week. This doesn’t include time praying or reading the Word or any ministry administrative work I have to do. In prayer it has become obvious that I critically need to change this equation—I continue to pray for discernment about how to do that, but I know establishing these volunteer groups and giving over time to them is part of it.

I will leave you with a photo showing our food shelves at the free store one day after a donation from North Oak’s food pantry and Saint Michael’s garden and then another photo the very next day. The food program continues to grow both as a free store with food shelves and as a potential site for churches to come serve monthly meals and for people who are hungry. We have some even more interesting potentials coming up—please keep this program in your prayers. It is exciting to see what seems to be God-inspired things grow—please pray for us, and consider contacting me to volunteer directly—we could use your help in the ministry work. Thank God for providence and this time to write you!

February Newsletter and Prayer Requests

Thank you for your prayers and support this last year; they have been very much felt! We've had some interesting transitions in a few parts of the ministry, so I will do my best to update you about all of them in this newsletter so that you know what you can pray for!

First, Unite is working with the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance and a few churches to start up a food reclamation/distribution program. At this time, there are several good programs in Ellis County, but the distributions are not very frequent. The Community Assistance Center gives out food four times per year, and Saint Joseph's gives out food once per month. There are a few different food pantries, but they tend to have specific clients (one at the high school, one at the university, a few in individual churches). Our program would be for anyone in the community and would be grown in a few different phases. Right now, we are meeting with a state health inspector and a few different church members, pastors, and ECMA individuals every few weeks to discuss progress and work on stage one—getting a deep freeze in the Unite Free Store to add frozen goods donated from local merchants (usually that are near expiration date) to be given out in addition to our current offerings off our free food shelf. Phase two involves improving our coffee house kitchen area slightly to allow for churches to come in and serve occasional free meals to the Hays community. Phase three involves getting a fridge and using roasters to serve food from catering companies' excess (they would get a receipt for a non-profit donation) the day that they have extra. The final phase, phase four, would involve us using state-approved cooling procedures to cool the food from the catering companies, put date/time stamps on it, and serve it for its remaining lifespan (max of 7 day after it was prepared). The vision may change as we proceed, but it is exciting to see phase 1 already happening!

Another change is that the free store itself has grown in terms of how much it is used and in terms of what we offer. Here are some updated photos of our new shelves and some of the different things that people have donated.

A variety of individuals in the community have come in to get free food, free clothing, free cooking ware, microwaves, and other necessities.

Our small groups continue to go well—they are small in number, but I believe that they are going well. Please feel free to keep praying for spiritual growth in them. We have also experienced growth in game night—enough so that we almost have spacial difficulties. We may seek to expand our space slightly by having Aikido of Northwest Kansas rent another room for its changing area and storage to free up space for the game nights and the new deep freeze for the free store. Please keep that in your prayers as it would be an extra few hundred a month to do that, and I wish to make a wise decision.

We have also had some changes in Aikido of Northwest Kansas. We were very blessed to have Professor Moser teaching his 3-in-1 martial arts, with a faith focus, in our dojo. He had to head back to New York for family reasons, though; he and we both felt that it was a great blessing to him and us to have him here for the time that he was here, though. God definitely used the situation for the Kingdom in ways that I wouldn't have foreseen or planned for. It appears that He also used this situation as a blessing for another, too. A local tumbling instructor had been in relationship with a gym owner; when they broke up, she was evicted from his gym and their shared home. Her tumbling classes and personal training were the majority of her livelihood, so it was critical that she find space to continue them. Thankfully, God had left us open to allow for her to use the times that Professor Moser had been using, plus a few more slots, to make space for her and her tumbling kids. We feel very blessed to be able to get to know her better and to support her in this difficult time. I feel that it is also a blessing to have her with us, as she is very well liked by the children and parents due to her caliber of instruction. We will hopefully have her and a few parents join us this week in our early morning prayer meditation on Thursday. She and a few of them are interested in giving it a try, which excites me. We may also be joined by a professor at Fort Hays State University who has begun more heavily supporting the Unite free store in its efforts to reach out to the community.

Beyond that, life continues to be surprisingly busy, with many small projects all across the board in the ministries; Tella and I always appreciate prayers that we stay in God's peace as we work and that we keep focused on Him and His Kingdom. I also have been personally trying to 're-surrender' to Him and His will to experience the freest life possible in this busy ministry time. Thanks again for your prayers and support; also, please send us any prayer requests that you have!

Odd near-Christmas request, but we have an individual who needs to borrow some crutches for the Christmas season.  Does anyone have any that they could loan out?  If so, please contact us at UniteEph4.1.16@gmail.com.  Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

Prayer Request

Hello,
   We are working on an initiative to help feed the hungry with quality excess food from inspected/licensed caterers.  Several church leaders, individuals with restaurant experience, and a state food safety inspector are helping us with ideas and options.  Please pray that things come together as they should and that our landlord at The Gamers Guild is ok with us improving the place to allow for some of the safety requirements to be met.  Your prayers in this are appreciated!

October Updates

It is good to be sharing with you again! We have been up to a lot since this is our busy season in the ministry, so I'll update you here as much as I can.

For those who didn't follow our blog about the Mexico Mission Trip—it went extremely well. Those of us on the trip felt that we were very blessed to be a blessing, and it was a great chance to spread word about the Home, Unite, and opportunities with both as much of our trip was covered on the KPRD Christian radio station. For a more fully detailed account of our trip, you can go to this website (http://unite2014mexico.blogspot.com/) to read our posts about it before, during, and after the trip. My closing post was put up to coincide with this newsletter's release, so it applies even today. :)

As always, the start of the university comes quickly after Mexico, and the first week is fairly busy letting people know about Unite and our game nights, small groups, and other opportunities as well as letting them know about Aikido of Northwest Kansas and opportunities that they have there and The Gamers Guild and the services it offers. Each of these elements has been expanding in good ways to serve the Kingdom.

Unite is getting back to networking—I'm slowly getting to know the pastors in town again as several churches that I previously worked with have new lead pastors and have been in times of transition (hence they were unable to meet about outside ministry projects since they were dealing with fairly large internal matters). I've also formally joined the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance and am working with their website and possibly on a couple of committees that may have good tie-ins with Unite and some of what we already do. Our Common Grounds Coffee House and free store inside of The Gamers Guild have expanded quite a bit. The coffee house itself is finally training some new volunteer barristas (though we need more if you are interested), and we have greatly expanded the free store. We now have more shelving and items on the shelves, a revolving food pantry that anyone can use, and a free-to-use laptop with WiFi and Internet access (so that people without can check their emails, facebook, and so on). We are hoping to expand the computer access that we provide (we use a Nex Tech Free Public Wifi Hotspot, so it has filters and is safe) so that people without computers can still do online work once the library closes. That will depend on us slowly getting more old (yet functional) computers that have Internet browsing capability. I would also be willing to consider running a free-to-use printer for job applications and such if we end up with a need for it (which we currently haven't yet).

Aikido of Northwest Kansas has been getting quite a few new students and has introduced seven areas of focus into its adult and youth curriculum. These include 'be compassionate, be respectful, be humble, center, relax completely, give positive energy, and keep weight underside'. Many of these concepts have been very fun to talk with youth about—we've even been able to challenge them to respect their parents or someone that they have difficulty respecting and then followed up on it the next week to see what they were able to do. We have also become a home for Professor Moser to instruct 3 in 1 martial arts when we are not using the dojo. He teaches 3 martial arts in 1, but he is also a Jew who became a believer (hence a Messianic Jew) who named his art 3 in 1 to also reflect the trinity; he uses it to teach and share Godly principles about life. It has been my distinct pleasure to get to know him and his wife more—they are a very Godly, wise couple who are out here to be closer to family and do what they feel God has led them to do. I am glad that the blessings He has given us are able to help them out here, as well.

Finally, The Gamers Guild has undergone several large transitions and continues to be a place for people to hang out at from 6:30pm-11:30pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday night our Unite Game Night happens there until about 2am. We are training several volunteers who do help out, and I have greatly enjoyed watching them come to know and love and care about the community who hangs out there. It's a very unique group that comes in each night—we have junior high students who don't have much of a home to go back to, high school students who want something different and fun to do, college-aged students who hang out and play games, and middle aged and older guys and gals who also come in to hang out and play games. We DO have a fair number of individuals come in to use Unite's Free Store for food or various useful items. We also have some people come in to donate to it. All in all, it's doing well.

Besides the usual small group and game night start up things, we also had our yearly 'Welcoming Event' to welcome students to campus in the name of Christ. A few churches came out and gave out food, care packages, and more. We also had a few college ministries show up and some other ministries. This year, we've done something new and reserved the quad for next year already. It is my sincere hope that with this much forewarning, we can get a better turnout from the churches and ministries and that they may serve the students in an even bigger way next year.

[alt], the alternative to Oktoberfest after-parties and excess, is also coming up Friday, October 10^th. We are excited to run it again this year, and though we think it will be even bigger than last year, it will still likely be smaller than it was years ago. As such, we are presenting next month before the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance about the concept of coming together to do [alt] more heavily in hopes of making it bigger and more impactful next year—possibly even holding a concert like we once did. All of that, though, is up in the air for the future.

It has been a good time for one-on-one ministry with a few events, though I really can't share details on here due to confidentiality. Please keep young people in your prayers, though—especially their love-lives and their desire to know not just about God but to know God.

Over the next period of time I would request prayers that those with broken relationships turn to God and grow stronger together, that those who do not know God get a desire to, and that all of us with doubts and fears ask God for His help and hear His response. May we all walk closer to God in this upcoming fall season. Thank you again for your prayers, for your support, and for being a part of this ministry.

Sincerely,

Brandon

Eyes to See

I have been requested to meet with a young man today who has come to our ministry often seeking help.  His girlfriend is very concerned for him/his health, and some of her concerns seem very valid while others seem to be things that stress her out but that are more of the nature of personal differences between the two that don't really indicate anything directly dangerous about the gentleman in question.  I pray that God legitimately help me be a functional peacemaker and love both people involved.

Prayer Request for 8/17/14 and 8/18/14

Hello everyone!
   It's been far too long since I've been on here to request prayer.  Please pray for tomorrow for me--I'll be preaching in Spanish in a local Hispanic church, and I don't feel very confident in my ability to easily share without the Holy Spirit guiding me well.  I realize that I've interpreted before in Juarez and taught lengthy lessons in Mexico, but there is a difference in the level of language used with an adult verses youth audience.  Some of the higher-level ideas are harder to express in a secondary language.
   Also, Monday is a BIG day for us--it is Picnic in the Quad, and I'll be up there with Unite (we are giving out Ramen with flyers advertising our free store and free food shelf, game night, and small groups), Aikido of Northwest Kansas (we'll be demonstrating with the FHSU Aikido Club and sharing our regular lesson and prayer meditation program), and The Gamers Guild--we'll be advertising our games and alternative fun to the local bars.
   To successfully take all 3 entities up there takes a crazy amount of preparation work, time, and just logistics (I have 600 Ramen packs to put flyers on, games and mats to pack and take, martial arts equipment, and a tent!)
   Please keep my wife and I and the other volunteers who will help out in your prayers, and thank you for reading and praying!
   Brandon

May Newsletter 2014

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!