Tomorrow afternoon, we will drive to our old stompin' grounds- the University of Northern Colorado, for Dave to speak at their NavNight (around 120-150 students this year; crazy!) and then for both of us to spend the day friday with a variety of different students. This is something that we hope to do about once a semester, and not just at UNC but at all of the campuses with Navigator ministries along the front range. He will speaking on the Kingdom of God particularly: 1. What is the Kingdom of God? (or Kingdom of Heaven) 2. Values of the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of this world 3. How does the Kingdom of God move (or "come to earth")
Please pray for the message to really scratch where the students are itching, and for God to draw many of them into deeper consideration of their lives and God's Kingdom, and how the two intersect. Pray that God's Kingdom would advance in the hearts of the students. Pray for good connecting time with the students and staff of the UNC Navigators during the day friday; they we would all be encouraged by one another and that God's Kingdom would move as a result of our interactions friday!
The month of February started off with a bit of a freed up schedule, which really only enabled an unbelievably crazy month! 4 days in was Dave's last day at Starbucks. While the closing of this chapter was sad, it freed him up to step in to a full-time roll in Denver instead of that part-time responsibilities that he had been able to accept. Please pray for the relationships with his co-workers, that they will be able to continue even though he's not there. God opened many doors and we want to continue to walk through them!
Potters Wheel
The next highlight of February came in the form of a 5-day intensive training called Potter's Wheel. This is a soul-care training where we, along with 6 others, packed 50 hours of teaching and practicing in to 5 days. Primarily using Larry Crabb's model of soul care counseling, we spent the week examining our patterns of coping with life and connecting the dots back to where we first bought in to whatever lies birth them. In most cases, some experience or series of experiences growing up leads kids to make vows with themselves as a form of protection. An example would be a child who put himself out there as a kid and was rejected and made a vow to never again risk. His god becomes his image and he serves that above the Lord, Jesus Christ. It's a process to identify these things and break that bond. We saw countless freedoms that week both in us and in others. God is constantly calling us in to a deeper intimacy with Him and out of the slavery that we often place ourselves in. What a privelege to be able to be a part of Potter's Wheel. Praise God for clearing our schedule FOR us and unexpectedly providing the money for us to go!!
Weekend in Chicago
Another highlight of the month was the 3 days we spent in Chicago for the new 20's mission staff training conference. This was for all staff who joined the metro mission of The Navigators within the last few years. It was so great to spend time with the urban workers of The Navigators all over the country. A highlight was meeting Jeremy who uses his rap music to bridge the gaps to inner city at-risk youth. Or Larry who ministers to the homeless of Chicago. He says "I don't call them homeless because really we're all homeless right? Atleast that's what Jesus said."
Laborer's Conference The month wrapped up with the Rocky Mountain Regional Laborer's Conference which is a conference for the leaders and laborers of the collegiate ministries in the region. This is our best chance in the Spring to put ourselves in front of and among the future graduates. We lead some workshops and had some time to speak in front of the 300+ students about what we're in Denver for and inviting them in! The video below is Mike, another memeber of our 20's mission team, explaining "City Life" to future grads. This is essentially the same message we gave students this weekend.
Stay tuned for the launching missional community. We're so excited to create this landing for grads and to see how God might advance His Kingdom in this part of the city. Keep praying!!
