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. 

Internship Update

It’s that time of year again. The streets of Greenville are full. Vacant parking spots are non-existent. Empty dormitories come alive. Faded bulletin boards are repapered and pep-pered with announce-ments, tips, and "fun facts about your Resident Assis-tant." The fall semester is underway, and there is a feeling of newness and life as students return for an-other academic year.

This is also a time of new-ness for CCF. We had our first two Overflows (weekly large group meet-ings) this month. So far 28 new students have filled out information cards. One of them is an international graduate student from Kenya whom we picked up from the airport. One is a freshman Music Therapy major who hap-pily joined us in the scorching heat to pass out free Ice-Pops and invite students to CCF. One is a guy whose experiences have led him to believe in the God of the Bible and is seeking to understand what it means to be a Christian.

I have been reflecting a lot recently on how God takes old, broken, dead things and breathes life into them. He breathed into dust and made man. He turned dry bones into and army. He resurrected his pierced and shattered Son. I know God loves to restore what is broken. I know God longs to breathe life into the lives of students at ECU. And He is doing that.

Last year I started meeting with a girl named Jasmin. She came to ECU as a new Christian and sought out CCF as a way to grow in her faith during college. She has the gift of a gentle and quiet spirit. But she also wants to be more bold in her faith. We studied through the big picture of the Bible, and by the end of spring semester she knew she needed to share her faith with a certain friend. I had lunch with her last week and she told me that she had the opportunity to share the gospel with this person. And this semester they are going to be study-ing more together. Jasmin is also planning on partici-pating in a scholarship pag-eant in a few months that will give her an even bigger opportunity to show her commitment to God. She wants to use the pageant to be an example to other girls to show that you do not have to flaunt your body to be beautiful, and that true beauty lies in lov-ing the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

I am so encouraged by all that God is doing. He is bringing people together. He is drawing in seekers. He is breathing life into His children and the ministry at CCF. Thank you all for your prayers and support. I know they make a differ-ence!

A New Song...

Music to my ears
That is what You are
Speaking to my heart
Speaking to me now

Water for my roots
Digging into You
I will find no thirst
No thirst

In You there is life so beautiful, beautiful
In You there is life so worth it all, worth it all

Temple for my King
This clay, my offering
Build me up into
What You please

Glory raining down
Nourish us
Fill us up until we're full
So full of You we're spilling out

In You there is life so beautiful, beautiful
In You there is life so worth it all, worth it all

What have I to lose
That's not already gone?
What have I to gain
But the Kingdom?

INTERNSHIP UPDATE 2 - Notes on "Radical" by David Platt

This weekend is the leadership retreat for CCF, and I will be there as an intern!

To prepare for the weekend of vision-casting and focusing on a Spirit-led year, we all read the book "Radical" by David Platt. I mentioned some of the challenges in this book previously. I have finished the book, and have learned some things that I want to share with you. I also want to take these things into my ministry with CCF:

1. Jesus was radical. The gospels are filled with Jesus saying things that are hard to hear. He tells people to sell everything they have and give it to the poor, to leave before a father's funeral, to trade their livelihood and their families for persecution and the unknown. Too often I have written off these passages as things that only those people were called to do, or things Jesus said as hyperbole just to make a point. And I'm sure Jesus was making a point. And I don't think everyone is supposed to get rid of everything they own right now, but we still must be willing. And we must not cling to any material thing, or any earthly comfort or security, because we cannot cling to the world and to the Father. No matter what we have, we must consider it all worthless compared to Christ. This is what Platt refers to as "radical abandonment to Jesus."

2. Radical giving. In order to give radically, we must reevaluate what we really need and look past the materialistic culture we are in. One practical thing Platt suggests is figuring out what we need and putting on cap on what we will spend, then giving the rest to support Kingdom growth. Often times, people increase their wealth and increase their living conditions as they do. What if we stopped at what we really needed, the minimum, and used the rest for Kingdom work--for missions, for taking trips to spread the gospel, for sharing with our neighbors in need?

3. Radical going. God's plan is for His people to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. From the beginning of time, God has been trying to bring all peoples back to him. In Genesis 12 we read that God promises Abraham that through him all nations will be blessed. And in Revelation 7, we read about John's vision of the great multitue before the throne consisting of people from every tribe and nation. This is the blessing made possible through the sacrifice of Jesus. 

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? Rom. 10:14-15

This is God's plan for reaching the world. Going and sharing the gospel with people who have not heard is not an option.

There is so much to this book, and I hope you get the chance to read it.

Prayer Points:

-Pray for our retreat this weekend, that we would be led by the Spirit in making decisions and planning for the next year.

-Pray that we would be people who go and teach people who will go and teach people who will go...

-Pray for my funding while I am working with CCF.

Thanks for following, and let me know what I can be praying for you!

With Love,

Beth

INTERNSHIP UPDATE 1

Interspersed in the posts of this blog will be updates on my internship with Campus Christian Fellowship at East Carolina University. You can tell them apart by the boring titles ;)

I will not officially start the internship until the beginning of July, but I will be in the office and helping with different events through the next few weeks. One of my jobs is helping to recreate our display board that we use for church visits and campus events to let people know abotu who we are. I will also help with freshman orientation events where we set up a booth alongside the other clubs and organizations for incoming students to check out.

Please pray that these events go well, there are eight of them. Pray that God provides connections and conversations with new students, and that they will find the right ministry to get plugged into.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

With love,
Beth Nosay

Called Out

My parents are very calm people. Even in their discipline they were calm, it was almost scary. A lot of the reprimands and punishments from my childhood I have forgotten, but one remains with me always. I don't even remember exactly what I did to deserve it, but I clearly remember the voice of my dad saying, calmly and firmly, "You did wrong." A heavy lump dropped from my throat to my stomach, a guilt worse than any spanking.

Honestly, I don't know which was more painful: knowing I disappointed my father, or having my failure said aloud and exposed.

I have been reading a book along with the leadership team in Campus Christian Fellowship called Radical by David Platt. It has been a difficult book to read. In it, Platt points out that the American Dream and our purpose in Christ do not fit together. Being a follower of Christ does not mean we strive for a good job, nice house, and a long life of health and safety while we have a little church and prayer on the side. It is not looking to God to provide us with comfort and shying away from His command to go and make disciples. Platt talks about complete abandonment to the cause of Christ, and complete trust in His power instead of our own.

I have also been reading the Scriptures. Before I went home for my wedding, I challenged a group of students at Bible study to write down the gospel message, to know what it is and be prepared to tell people about it. So, taking my own advice, I set out to write down the core of the gospel message. As I looked through the passages that mention the gospel, I noticed many of them were about spreading the gospel to new places, no matter the cost. The apostles, and many Christians, have abandoned the lives they knew for lives of financial instability, physical risk, and greater joy and peace than they had ever known.

I think about these things and that feeling in the pit of my stomach comes back. I thank God for the times when he calls me out and says "You did wrong." But He also says "Let me make you right." I spent a lot of time thinking of God as an addition to my dream for my life, when God is the creator, center, and purpose in my life. I can chase the American Dream, maybe even achieve it. In a decent economy and with some luck I could have a good job, a good family, a happy life. But I would miss so much more, and death would sting.

God has been teaching me to make Him, and His purpose of reconciling the people of world to Himself, more and more the center of my life. And it just gets better and better.

Needy

Psalm 107:33-43

"He turned rivers into a desert,

flowing springs into thirsty ground,

and fruitful land into salt waste,

because of the wickedness of those who lived there.

He turned the desert into pools of water

and the parched ground into flowing springs;

there he brought the hungry to live,

and they founded a city where they could settle.

They sowed fields and planted vineyards

that yeilded a fruitful harvest;

He blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased,

and He did not let their herds diminish.

Then their numbers decreased,

and they were humbled by oppression, calamity and sorrow;

he who pours contempt on nobles made them wander in the trackless waste.

But he lifted the needy out of their affliction

and increased their families like flocks.

The upright see and rejoice,

but all the wicked shut their mouths.

Whoever is wise, let him heed these things

and consider the great love of the Lord."

I saw a homeless woman today. She was standing on a corner with her sign, asking for help from hurried drivers. That is not a place people want to be. But out of desperation, people around the world humble themselves to stand on a corner and expose their needs to the world, hoping someone will pause to help.

I am afraid of being needy. I hate asking people for favors. I don't usually ask for help on anything. But I find myself frustrated. No matter what I have accomplished by myself, I am still so weak. I give in to negative emotions and self-pity. I lose perspective at the tiniest glitch in my life and don't consider that it may just be God's bigger, better plan.

This passage in Psalms opened my eyes. I am needy. Whether I think I am or not, I am in need. We are all in need of God. And when we shut out this need, we shut out God's blessings.

For the hungry, God prepared a place with fertile soil that produced much fruit. And for the needy, God provided escape and increase in numbers. How great a love that He provides for everyone who has need!

For the wicked, God dried up the ground. And for those who numbers decreased (which was not from God, verse 38 says God did not let their herds diminish), God allowed oppression, calamity and sorrow. How much greater a love that He also gives neediness to the proud! Verse 39 says these people were humbled by the oppression. By taking away the worldy things we rely on, God blesses us by clearing the mud from our eyes that blinds us to our need for Him.

So this is me standing on a corner with my sign: I need God.

God, we need you. And if we must be oppressed to see that need and learn to trust in you, then let it be. Prune us. Mold us. Renew us.