Internship Update

This month has been full of good conversations. Christianity, and religion in general, has become somewhat taboo in our society. Even among Christians, we can be afraid to bring up deeper, spiritual matters. I think this is especially true in my generation. But I have been learning over my college years that bringing up Jesus is not that weird. And in order to truly love people, we have to speak of God.

Early in the month another student, named Joy,  and I took an exchange student from Japan to Jazz Night at a restaurant downtown. We talked for hours. According to this student, the majority of Japanese people “have no religion.” But she was curious about Christianity, knowing it is a part of American culture, and asked us why we believed. Joy and I shared our testimonies with her that night.

I met up with the girl again the next week and we had dinner. We did not have any direct conversations about Christianity or Jesus this time. But there were many opportunities in talking about cultural differences to share the views I hold that are different from the culture I live in.

Another good conversation occurred the following week when I met with a freshman girl who had been attending Overflow and our Thursday night Bible study. I learned about her home life and her love for music. I encouraged her to go on the Fall Retreat and asked her if she would be interested in studying the Bible with me. It was at the retreat that she told me she wants to study with me. We will begin meeting weekly very soon.

Another opportunity to speak about God came through our Fall Retreat. Sunday, a group of 26 exhausted ECU students and campus ministry staff (pictured below) returned from Park Springs Christian Camp in Danville, Virginia. I was exhausted too, but also very excited to have had the opportunity to lead a workshop this time. Pulling from information and books from classes I took at Mid-Atlantic Christian University, I shared tips and tools for enhancing personal Bible study.

Sometimes an opportunity to speak of God comes in a question. Sometimes we speak of God indirectly by the other things we do or do not say. Sometimes we have to be bold and ask the questions ourselves. I pray that more and more of our conversations include speaking of God.